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LIBRARY 


HISTORY 


OF  THE 


PRESBYTERIAN  CHURCH 


IN   THE 


UNITED  STATES  OF  AMERICA, 


BY   THE 

Kev.  E.  H.  GILLETT,  D.D., 

AUTHOR   OF   "THE    LIFE   AND   TIMES   OF  JOHN    HUBS,"   "THE   MORAL   SYSTEM, 
"  GOD    IN   HUMAN   THOUGHT,"   ETC.,  ETC. 


REVISED  EDITION. 


VOL.  I. 


PHILADELPHIA : 
PRESBYTERIAN    BOARD  OF  PUBLICATION, 

1334  CHESTNUT   STREET. 


Entered,  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in 

the  year  1864,  by  (he 

PRESBTTERIAN    PUBLICATION    COMMITTEE, 

in  the  Clerk's 

Office  of  the  District  Court 

of  the   United  States  for 

the  Eastern  District  of  Pennsylvania. 

A 

°{ 


G><- 


Mx    \ 


°)       I 


PREFACE  TO  THE  REVISED  EDITION. 


The  reunion  of  the  two  branches  of  the  Presbyterian 
Church  in  this  country,  happily  effected  in  1869  after  a 
division  of  more  than  thirty  years,  has  called  for  the 
revision  of  a  work  prepared  during  the  period  of  their 
separation.  It  has  not  been  thought  necessary  to  add 
to  it  the  record  of  the  steps  which  led  to  the  reunion,  as 
these  are  embodied  in  the  volume  entitled  "  Presby- 
terian Reunion  Memorial,"  published  in  1870 ;  but  in 
order  to  do  impartial  justice  to  the  position  and  views 
of  the  two  parties  from  the  time  when  they  first 
appeared,  certain  changes  and  modifications  of  statement 
have  been  deemed  necessary,  and  these  have  been 
embodied  in  this  revised  edition. 

So  far  as  most  of  the  statements  of  facts  are  con- 
cerned, very  little  change  has  been  required,  but  what 
before  was  asserted  without  qualification  as  to  the  rela- 
tion and  action  of  the  two  parties  has  been  so  modified 
that  the  party  by  whom  such  assertion  was  regarded  as 
historically  true  or  just  is  alone  made  responsible  for  it. 
In  other  words,  the  historian  has  allowed  each  party  to 
speak  for  itself,  representing  its  own  views,  while  the 
reader  is  left  at  liberty  to  draw  his  own  conclusions. 

No  other  course  than  this  was  possible  in  the  circum- 
stances. The  position  and  sentiments  of  each  branch 
of  the  Church  have  become  historical,  and  to  exclude  or 
ignore  them  would  have  betrayed  at  once  an  unworthy 


3335*6 


VI  PREFACE   TO   THE   REVISED    EDITION. 

timidity  and  distrust  of  the  solid  basis  of  reunion,  and 
a  faithlessness  to  the  claims  which  demand  an  impartial 
statement  of  all  the  facts  material  to  a  proper  historic 
record. 

Moreover,  the  history  of  a  denomination,  like  that  of 
a  State,  has  its  lessons;  and  if  lessons  of  warning  against 
dangers  which  are  liable  to  recur,  they  can  be  gathered 
only  from  the  study  of  many  things  which,  if  truth 
would  suffer  it,  we  might  prefer  to  leave  unrecorded. 
But  if  good  men,  and  even  wise  men,  have  erred,  their 
errors  may  prove  only  less  instructive  than  their  virtues ; 
and  while  we  jealously  vindicate  their  just  fame  and 
their  conceded  merits,  we  are  not  at  liberty  to  conceal 
their  failings  when  these  must  be  known  in  order  to 
form  an  impartial  judgment  of  events  in  which  many 
others  besides  themselves  were  equally  interested. 

To  render  the  revision  as  perfect  as  possible,  and  to 
remove  whatever  could  be  fairly  considered  as  objection- 
able, competent  aid  has  been  sought  from  those  most 
familiar  with  the  subject  and  best  qualified  to  suggest 
emendations.1  It  is  believed  that  the  work  in  its  pres- 
ent form  will  prove  acceptable  to  the  reunited  Church, 
furnishing  it  with  information  concerning  its  origin  and 
progress  that  can  be  found  nowhere  else  in  the  same 
compass. 

E.  H.  GlLLETT. 

1  I  feel  myself  under  special  obligations  to  the  Rev.  S.  J.  M. 
Eaton,  D.  D.,  whose  "History  of  the  Presbytery  of  Erie"  ranks  with 
the  very  best  of  our  local  church  histories ;  as  also  to  Eev.  J.  H. 
Martin,  D.  D.,  of  Tennessee,  Eev.  Wm.  Aikraan,  D.  D.,  of  Detroit, 
and  others  of  whose  communications  I  have  availed  myself  in  this 
revision. 


NOTE. 

At  the  request  of  Dr.  Dulles,  on  behalf  of  the  Board 
of  Publication,  as  well  as  of  Dr.  Gillctt,  the  author,  I 
read  over  carefully  the  volumes  of  this  History,  with  a 
view  to  suggest  alterations  which  the  late  reunion  has 
made  proper.  It  is  a  pleasure  to  state  that  both  these 
brethren,  the  author  and  the  editor,  have  manifested  the 
utmost  readiness  to  expunge  anything  like  a  partisan 
tinge,  and  to  render  the  work  unexceptionable  to  the 
whole  Church. 

Of  course  it  could  not  be  re-edited  without  a  sub- 
stantial identification  with  the  original  imprint.  We 
could  not  consistently  wish  it  to  be  otherwise  and  retain 
the  truth  of  history  as  it  lies  in  the  mind  of  the  author. 
But  I  am  happy  in  testifying  that  candor,  amity  and 
a  truth-loving  heart  have  conceded  everything  that 
"  Old  School "  men  could  reasonably  ask  in  this  revision. 

Alex.  T.  McGill. 

Princeton,  August  20,  1873. 


FROM   THE 


PREFACE  TO  THE  ORIGINAL  EDITION. 


More  than  seventy  years  have  elapsed  since  the 
attention  of  the  General  Assembly  of  the  Presby- 
terian Church  in  the  United  States  was  called  to 
the  subject  of  preparing  a  history  of  the  denomi- 
nation in  this  country.     In   1791,  Ilev.  Drs.  Wither- 


Vlll  PREFACE. 

spoon,  McWhorter,  and  Green,  and  Rev.  Messrs. 
William  Graham,  James  Hall,  and  James  Temple- 
ton,  were  appointed  a  committee  "to  devise  measures 
for  the  collecting  of  materials  necessary"  to  carry 
out  the  project.  In  accordance  with  the  suggestions 
of  their  report,  it  was  enjoined  upon  each  Presby- 
tery "strictly  to  order  their  members  to  procure  all 
the  materials  for  forming  a  history  of  the  Presby- 
terian Church  in  this  country,  in  the  power  of  each 
member,  and  bring  in  the  same  to  their  Presbytery, 
and  that  the  Presbyteries  forward  the  said  collection 
of  materials  to  the  next  General  Assembly." 

In  1792,  and  in  successive  years  till  1795,  the  sub- 
ject was  considered,  and  "delinquent  Presbyteries  ' 
were  called  upon  for  their  reports.  But  no  further 
action  was  taken  till  1804,  when  Dr.  Green  and  Mr. 
Ebenezer  Hazard  were  appointed,  from  the  ma- 
terials gathered,  to  write  the  history.  Delinquent 
Presbyteries  were  again  called  upon  to  complete 
their  narratives. 

In  1813,  Dr  Green  and  Mr.  Hazard  stated  to  the 
Assembly  that  they  had  found  it  impracticable  to 
go  on  with  the  work,  and  their  request  that  the 
papers  which  they  possessed  might  be  transferred 
to  Dr.  Miller,  who  should  be  authorized  and  re- 
quested to  complete  the  history,  was  granted.  In 
1819,  Dr.  Green  was  by  vote  of  the  Assembly  as- 
sociated with  Dr.  Miller  in  the  preparation  of  the 
work.  Their  request,  in  1825,  to  be  discharged 
from  the  duty  committed  to  them,  was  received 
with  "unfeigned  regret;"  and  although  it  was 
granted,  the  project  of  the  preparation  of  the  History 
was  not  abandoned.     Measures  were  adopted  "to 


PREFACE.  IX 

insure  the  continuation  and  completion  of  the  work 
with  the  least  possible  delay."  A  new  committee, 
consisting  of  Drs.  Green,  Janeway,  and  Ely,1  was 
appointed  for  this  purpose. 

Here,  however,  the  matter  was  suffered  to  rest. 
It  was  left  to  individual  enterprise  and  effort  to 
investigate  the  history  of  the  Church  during  dif- 
ferent periods  and  in  different  localities.  Works 
of  great  value  for  reference  and  authority  in  com- 
piling a  general  history  of  the  Church  have  thus 
been  produced  ;  and  while  important  materials  have 
been  irrevocably  lost  by  the  lapse  of  time  and  past 
neglect,  the  task  of  preparing  a  connected  history 
has  in  some  respects  been  greatly  facilitated. 

In  these  circumstances,  the  Publication  Committee 
of  the  Assembly  judged,  several  years  since,  that  the 
long-deferred  project  should  be  undertaken  afresh. 
Nothing  could  be  gained,  and  much  might  be  lost, 
by  further  delay.  With  each  successive  year  mat- 
ters of  great  value  were  passing  to  oblivion.  Pres- 
byterians, moreover,  ignorant  of  the  history  of  their 
own  Church,  and  of  its  policy  as  illustrated  by  that 
history,  might  justly  claim  such  information  as 
would  serve  at  once  for  the  vindication  of  their  own 
ecclesiastical  preferences  and  the  position  of  the 
denomination  with  which  they  were  identified. 

It  was  resolved,  therefore,  to  take  steps  for  the 
preparation  of  a  work  not  too  voluminous  for  popu- 
lar perusal,  yet  sufficiently  minute  to  combine  a 
measure  of  local   with   general   interest, — a  work 

1  Upon  Dr.  Ely's  resignation  in  183G,  Dr.  Luther  Halsey  was  ap- 
pointed in  his  place. 


X  PREFACE. 

which  should  present  an  outline  of  the  origin  and 
progress  of  the  Church,  the  methods  and  results  of 
its  efforts,  and  the  spirit  and  policy  by  which  those 
efforts  have  been  directed. 

Selected  by  the  committee  for  the  task  of  pre- 
paring such  a  work,  I  have  endeavored  to  embody 
with  historic  impartiality  the  most  important  facts, 
accessible  to  diligent  and  faithful  investigation,  in 
the  work  which  is  now  offered  to  the  Church.  The 
labor  has  been  by  no  means  a  light  one.  Materials 
have  been  gathered  from  most  diverse  and  un- 
looked-for sources.  By  correspondence,  and  by 
the  examination  of  old  records,  letters,  and  nar- 
ratives,—some  of  which  must  have  slept  unmolested 
on  the  files  of  Presbytery  for  more  than  half  a 
century, — I  have  endeavored  to  supply  the  lack  of 
other  authorities ;  and  in  this  I  have  been  greatly 
aided  by  the  most  ready  and  efficient  co-operation 
of  numerous  individuals  who  have  cheerfully  ren- 
dered their  assistance.  To  some  of  them  I  have 
been  indebted  for  valuable  information  which  will 
be  found  in  the  notes,  or  has  been  incorporated  in 
the  body  of  the  work. 

In  the  preparation  of  the  work,  I  have,  as  far  as 
possible,  availed  myself  of  authorities  contempo- 
raneous with  the  facts  narrated.  Among  these  are 
to  be  classed  the  minutes  of  the  Synod  of  New  York 
and  Philadelphia,  and  those  of  the  General  As- 
sembly; those  also  of  Synods  and  Presbyteries,  so 
far  as  accessible ;  "  The  Literary  and  Theological 
Magazine,"  "New  York  Missionary  Magazine," 
"Connecticut  Evangelical  Magazine,"  Annual  Re- 
ports of  the  Connecticut  Missionary  Society  from 


PREFACE. 


1793  to  1820,  "Assembly's  Magazine,"  "Panoplist," 
"  Christian  Advocate,"  "Christian  Spectator,"  "Bib- 
lical Repository,"  "Presbyterian  Quarterly  Review," 
"Princeton  Review,"  "American  Quarterly  Regis- 
ter," "New  York  Observer,"  "New  York  Evan- 
gelist," "Christian  Herald"  (1816-21),  "Presbytery 
Reporter,"  "Home  Missionary,"  Reports  of  the 
different  Domestic  Missionary  Societies,  &c,  be- 
sides files,  more  or  less  complete,  of  the  various 
Presbyterian  journals  at  the  South  and  West.1 

Next  in  importance  to  these  have  been  local  his- 
tories, such  as  Prime's  Lo*g  Island,  Hotchkin's 
"Western  New  York,  Nevin's  Churches  of  the  Val- 
ley, Foote's  Sketches  of  Virginia  and  North  Caro- 
lina, Davidson's  Kentucky,  "Old Redstone,"  Bolton's 
History  of  Westchester  County,  Smyth's  Second 
Church  of  Charleston,  Macdonald's  History  of  the 
Church  of  Jamaica,  Riker's  Newtown,  Hoyt's  Church 
of  Orange,  Stearns's  Church  of  Newark,  Hall's 
Church  of  Trenton,  Eager's  Orange  County,  Camp- 
bell's Tryon  County,  Munsell's  Annals  of  Albany, 
Murray's  Elizabethtown,  Hewatt's  History  of  South 
Carolina,  History  of  Londonderry,  Histories  of  Pitts- 
burg, Cincinnati,  Detroit,  St.  Louis,  &c,  Greenleaf  s 
Churches  of  Maine,  Greenleaf  s  Churches  of  New 
York  City,  Dwight's  Travels,  Reed's  Christian 
Traveller,  &c. 

In  biography,  Dr.  Sprague's  Annals,  so  far  as  they 
have  extended,  have  been  invaluable  and  indispens- 
able; although  in  some  instances  I  have  been  con- 

1  New  Orleans  " True  Witness,"  "Presbyterian  Herald,"  "South- 
ern Presbyterian,"  "  North  Carolina  Presbyterian,"  "  Central  Chris- 
tian Herald,"  &c. 


Xll  PREFACE. 

strained  to  differ  from  the  views  which  they  present. 
Very  important  materials  also  have  been  derived 
from  such  memoirs  as  those  of  Drs.  Alexander, 
Green,  J.  H.  Rice,  Nesbit,  Rodgers,  Griffin,  Cle- 
land,  Macurdy,  Baldwin,  Rowland,  Baker,  Holley, 
and  Rev.  Messrs.  Badger,  Christmas,  Porter,  Cor- 
nelius, Earned,  Bruen,  and  others.  Wilson's  "His- 
torical Almanac"  has  furnished  information  nowhere 
else  accessible,  and  has  proved  of  material  service. 

Among  works  of  a  more  general  historical  cha- 
racter which  have  been  profitably  consulted,  must 
be  mentioned  Prince's  History,  Felt's  Ecclesiastical 
History  of  New  England,  Histories  of  the  United 
States  by  Grahame,  Hildreth,  and  Bancroft,  His- 
torical Collections  of  the  different  States,  made  by 
individuals,  Societies,  or  State  authority  in  the  form 
of  "Documentary  History,"  and  numerous  State  his- 
tories, like  Trumbull's  Connecticut,  Simms's  South 
Carolina,  Ramsay's  Tennessee,  &c,  Dr.  Green's  His- 
tory of  Presbyterian  Missions,  Humphrey's  Revival 
Sketches,  and  the  well-known  works  of  Hodge  and 
Webster. 

The  list  of  historical  and  obituary  discourses  which 
I  have  been  able  to  collect,  or  at  least  to  consult, 
has  exceeded  my  anticipations.  I  have  had  pecu- 
liarly favorable  opportunities  in  this  respect,  and 
have  thus  been  enabled  to  add  not  a  little  to  that 
minuteness  of  detail  which  is  often  necessary  to 
clothe  and  give  life  to  the  statistics, — the  skeleton 
of  history.  A  list  of  these  it  is  not  necessary  here 
to  insert,  as  probably  they  are  not  sufficiently  ac- 
cessible in  any  public  collection  to  enable  the  reader 
to  make  reference  to  them. 


PREFACE.  Xlll 

Beside  these,  historical  pamphlets,  like  that  of  the 
tour  of  Mills  and  Scherraerhorn  to  the  Southwest, 
and  that  narrating  the  scenes  of  revival  in  the  Caro- 
linas  of  1802,  or  controversial  pamphlets,  like  those 
of  Dr.  Ely,  Messrs.  Patterson,  McCalla,  &c,  of  Phi- 
ladelphia, of  Drs.  Rice,  Peters,  Wilson,  Beecher, 
and  others,  have  fallen  in  my  way  and  been  sifted 
for  facts. 

Another  class  of  works  has  not  been  overlooked, 
and  has  been,  indeed,  indispensable.  To  this  belong 
Barnes's  Trial,  Barnes's  Defence,  Reports  of  the 
Presbyterian  Church  Case  before  the  Civil  Courts, 
Judd's  History  of  the  Division  of  the  Presbyterian 
Church,  Crocker's  Catastrophe  of  the  Presbyterian 
Church,  Wood's  Old  and  New  Theology,  with  others 
which  it  is  needless  to  mention. 

Some  reference  has  been  already  made  to  manu- 
script and  oral  communications.  But  the  manu- 
script History  of  the  Secession  of  the  Associated 
Presbyteries  (1799-1818),  by  Dr.  K  S.  Prime,  is 
worthy  of  special  mention ;  and  the  files  of  the  old 
Albany  Presbytery — unexplored,  perhaps,  for  half  a 
century — afforded  not  only  some  of  the  original  his- 
tories of  churches  ordered  to  be  prepared  by  the 
General  Assembly,  but  much  other  information  of 
value.  In  the  private  library  of  the  Stated  Clerk  of 
the  General  Assembly  I  obtained  access  to  many 
works  which  I  have  met  with  nowhere  else,  and 
from  friends  in  both  branches  of  the  Presbyterian 
Church  I  have  received  assistance  and  information 
to  which  I  have  been  greatly  indebted. 

No  one  can  be  more  sensible  than  myself  of  the 
imperfections  of  the  work.     Some  of  them,  indeed, 


XIV  PREFACE. 

from  the  lack  of  materials,  were  inevitable.  There 
are  still  gaps  here  and  there,  which  remain,  and  in 
all  probability  will  long  remain,  to  be  filled,  while 
the  assigned  limits  of  the  work1  have  precluded  the 
insertion  of  much  matter  that  had  been  already  pre- 
pared. Such  an  undertaking  as  this  gives  us — and, 
after  all  corrections  and  additions,  must  still  give 
us — only  an  approximation  to  a  complete  history. 
Yet,  by  sending  the  work  forth,  even  in  its  present 
form,  a  great  want  which  our  churches  have  long 
felt  will,  I  trust,  be  supplied,  and  many  facts,  im- 
portant in  the  history  of  the  Church,  which  might 
otherwise  have  soon  passed  into  oblivion,  will  be  pre- 
served. No  one  can  thoughtfully  peruse  the  story 
of  the  perils  and  hardships,  the  toils  and  achieve- 
ments, of  the  fathers  and  pioneers  of  the  Church,  or 
linger  over  even  the  controversies  and  dissensions 
by  which  at  times  it  has  been  rent,  or,  especially, 
regard  the  great  work  which  it  has  nobly  achieved, 
without  deriving  therefrom  lessons  of  truth,  wisdom, 
and  love. 

E.  H.  Gillett. 

Haklem,  New  York  City,  April  11,  1864. 

1  In  repeated  instances,  instead  of  giving  the  full  name  of  the 
ministers  in  the  text,  I  have  endeavored  to  save  space  by  using  only 
the  surname.  By  a  reference,  however,  to  the  Index,  the  full  name 
may  readily  be  found  in  nearly  every  instance. 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  I. 

FRANCIS    MAKEMIE. 


American  Presbyterianism — Francis  Makemie — Labors  in  Maryland 
— Intolerance — Virginia  and  Dissenters — Act  of  1618 — Ministers 
from  Boston — Their  Labors — Driven  out — Disabilities  by  Act  of 
1662 — The  Church  at  Jamaica,  L.I. — John  Hubbard — Injustice  of 
Lord  Cornbury — Arrest  of  Makemie  and  Hampton — Conference 
with  Cornbury — Illegal  Imprisonment — Application  to  the  Chief- 
Justice — Verdict  of  Acquittal — Second  Prosecution  apprehended — 
Maryland  Intolerance — Character  of  Early  Presbyterian  His- 
tory  Page  1-18 

CHAPTER   II. 

THE    FIRST    FRESBYTERY,   1706-1715. 

The  First  Presbytery — Its  Seven  Members — Their  Location — Andrews 
at  Philadelphia — New  England  "Emissaries" — Keith  and  Tal- 
bot— Episcopacy — "Independents"  in  New  Jersey — Applications 
for  Ministers — Correspondence  of  Presbytery — London — Dublin 
— Synod  of  Glasgow — Response  from  London — Accessions  to  the 
Presbytery — Congregations  in  New  Jersey  and  Long  Island — 
The  Presbytery  to  be  divided — Ten  Years'  Growth — Liberal  Spirit 
of  the  Members Page  18-32 

CHAPTER   III. 

THE    8YNOD,   1717-1729. 

Long  Island  Presbytery — The  Churches  on  the  Island — Presbyteries 
of  Philadelphia.  Newcastle,  and  Snow  Hill — Necessities  of  the  Field 
— Difficulties  at  New  York — Vesey  and  the  Episcopal  Division — 
Presbyterian  Congregation — Anderson  called — Building  erected 

xv 


XVI  CONTENTS. 

— Difficult}  with  Anderson — Jonathan  Edwards — Ebenezer  Pern 
berton — Jonathan  Dickinson — The  Church  at  Newark — Increase 
of  Ministers — Their  Nativity — Place  of  Settlement — Alexander 
Hutchison — William  Tennent — Correspondence — Supply  of  Des- 
titutions— Fund  for  Pious  Uses — A  Commission  of  Synod  appointed 
— Troubles  at  New  York — Protest  of  Dickinson,  Jones,  Pierson, 
and  others — The  Difficulty  removed — Liberal  Spirit — Trouble  at 
Newark Page  32-47 

CHAPTER  IV. 

ADOPTING    ACT,   1729. 

Measures  leading  to  the  Adopting  Act — History  of  Subscription  in 
Ireland — Reasons  for  Subscription — The  Belfast  Society — Error 
in  Scotland — Abernethy's  Sermon — The  War  of  Pamphlets — Ac- 
tion of  the  Synod — Craighead's  Sermon — Permission  to  subscribe 
— The  Separation — Danger  to  the  American  Presbyterian  Church 
better  apprehended — Scruples  removed — A  Full  Synod  called — 
The  Committee — The  Adopting  Act — A  Constitutional  Basis  to  be 
changed  by  no  Interpretation Page  47-58 

CHAPTER  V. 

i'HE  SYNOD  FROM  THE  ADOPTING  ACT  TO  THE  DIVISION,  1729-1741. 

ministers  from  1729  to  1741 — Gilbert  Tennent — His  Character — Over- 
tuie  to  the  Synod — Controversy  with  Cowell — Zeal  of  Tennent — 
Synod  on  the  Examination  of  Candidates — Robert  Cross  opposed 
to  Tennent — His  Relations  to  Whitefield — Samuel  Blair — Alex- 
ander Craighead — John  Cross — Eleazar  Wales — Richard  Treat — 
The  Tennents — The  Party  opposed  to  them — The  Moderate  Party 
— Growth  of  the  Church — Decline  of  Vital  Piety — Danger  from 
Ireland — Samuel  Hemphill — Preventive  Measures — Committee  to 
examine  Candidates — The  Log  College — Its  Success — Intrusion 
into  other  Congregations — Objectionable  Course  of  the  New  Bruns- 
wick Presbytery — Measures  for  a  Synodical  School — Whitefield — 
Intrusion  on  a  Large  Scale — Synod  of  1740 — Overture  introduced 
— Preaching — Tennent's  and  Blair's  Papers — Action  of  the  Synod 
— Harshness  of  the  New  Side — Exasperation — Synod  of  1741 — 
Absence  of  New  York  Members — The  Protest  of  the  Old  Side — 
The  Principal  Grievances — Reasons  of  Protest — Conclusion  of  the 
Protest — Excitement — The  Roll  called — The  Protestants  a  Ma- 
jority— The  Division  accomplished — The  Two  Parties.  Page  58-82 


CONTENTS.  XVU 

CHAPTER  VI. 

THE    TERIOD    OF   THE    DIVISION,    1741-1758. 

Unfavorable  Prospects  of  the  New  Side — Dickinson's  Proposal — The 
Conference — Insuperable  Difficulty — Protest  of  the  New  York 
Members — Reply — A  New  Overture  on  the  Subject  in  1743 — Re- 
jected— Burr's  Proposal  to  the  New  Brunswick  Party — Reply — ■ 
Project  of  a  New  Synod — Futile  Measures  of  1745 — Withdrawal 
of  New  York  Presbytery — Synod  of  New  York  formed — Causes  of 
Offence  guarded  against — Constitutional  Basis — Members  of  the 
Constituent  Presbyteries — Beatty — Growth  of  New  Brunswick 
Presbytery — Accessions  to  the  Old  Side— Gain  of  the  New  Side—  • 
Members  received — Largely  from  New  England — Scotch  Sympathy 
— The  Old  Side — Nativity  of  the  New  Members — Check  of  Emi- 
gration affects  the  Old  Side — Disposition  for  Reunion — Grounds 
of  Division  narrowed — The  Paragraph  on  "Essentials" — Position 
of  the  New  Side — Presbyteries,  how  to  be  arranged — Plan  of  the 
Old  Side — Commission  of  the  two  Synods — Meeting  of  both  Synods 
in  Philadelphia — Strength  of  each — Retrospect Page  82-106 

CHAPTER  VII. 

rRESBYTERIANISM    IN    VIRGINIA. 

Valley  of  the  Shenandoah — Scotch-Irish  Immigration — Ministerial 
Supplies — Congregations  gathered — Craig  and  Miller — Mission- 
aries sent  out — Hardships  of  the  Settlers — Hanover  Presbytery- 
Morris's  Reading-House — Occasion  of  Dissent — Meetings  of  Dis- 
senters— Prosecution — The  Confession  of  Faith  and  Governor  Gooch 
— The  Dissenters  pronounced  Presbyterians — William  Robin- 
son's Visit — Liberal  Gift — Educates  Samuel  Davies — John  Blair — 
John  Roan — Prosecution — Whitefield's  Visit — The  Proclamation — 
Arrival  of  Davies — Meeting-Houses  licensed — Davies's  Early  Life — 
His  Wrelcome  Reception — His  Health  fails — Resumes  his  Labors — 
Argument  for  Toleration — Success  of  Davies — Persecution — Re- 
vivals— Jonathan  Edwards — Davies  alone — Seeks  Help — Daven- 
port's Visit — Byram — Todd — Davies  applies  to  Synod — Jonathan 
Edwards  invited  to  Virginia — Efficiency  of  Davies. .Page  100-124 

CHAPTER  VIII. 

THE  SYNODS  AND  THEIR  SCHOOLS. 

Rainn  Hall  College — Dickinson  President — His  Character — Aaron 
Burr,  hi.s  Successor — The  School  a(  Newark — Removal  to  Prince- 


XV111  CONTENTS. 

ton — Its  Success — Mission  of  Tennent  and  Davies  to  England- 
Expenses — Difficulty  foreseen — Apostasy  of  English  Presbyterians 
— Jealousy  of  the  Old  Side — Obstructions — Tennent's  Disavowal 
of  his  Sermon — Subscription  sneered  at — Orthodoxy  in  111  Repute 
— Presbyterian  Discipline  neglected — Discouragement — Light 
breaks  in—Sympathy  for  Virginia  Dissenters — Partial  Success — 
Scotland — Moderatism — Assembly  orders  a  Collection — Tennent 
goes  to  Ireland  —  Witherspoon's  "Characteristics"  —  Davies 
preaches — Visit  to  English  Towns — Tennent's  Success — Return 
to  America — Burr's  Death — Davies  chosen  President — The  Old  Side 
— Alison's  School — Aid  from  German  Schools — Dublin  Donation 
of  Books — Finley's  School — Samuel  Blair's  School — Andrews — 
Evans — Davies — Correspondence  with  President  Clap  Page  124-138 

CHAPTER  IX. 

SYNOD    OF    NEW   YORK   AND    PHILADELPHIA,   1758-1775. 

The  Basis  of  Union— The  Protest  set  aside — The  Presbyteries — Re- 
vival Testimony — Lessons  of  the  Division — Members  of  the  Pres- 
byteries— Committee  of  Correspondence — Day  of  Fasting  and 
Prayer — Trouble  in  Donegal  Presbytery — The  Second  Presbytery 
of  Philadelphia — Its  Members — Vain  Attempt  to  unite  it  with  the 
First — Members  received  from  other  Presbyteries — Duffield  and 
the  Third  Church  of  Philadelphia — Virginia  Ministers  ask  for  a 
New  Presbytery — Dutchess  County  Presbytery — Churches  west  of 
the  Hudson — Letter  from  the  Presbytery  of  South  Carolina — Pres- 
bytery of  Orange — Large  Accession  of  Ministers — The  Mission- 
Field — Frontier  Settlements — Professor  of  Divinity  at  Princeton — 
Plan  to  promote  Ministerial  Education — Missions  to  the  Indians 
— John  Brainerd — Samson  Occum — The  French  War — Missionary 
Collections  proposed — Germ  of  Home  and  Foreign  Missions — 
Foreign  Correspondence — Congregational  and  Presbyterian  Con- 
vention— Its  Object — Circulation  of  Religious  Books — Germ  of  the 
Publication  Cause — Psalmody — New  York  Troubles — Dr.  Latta's 
Pamphlet  —  Synod's  Commission — African  Mission  —  Drs.  Stiles 
and  Hopkins — Synod  of  1775 — Members  present — Day  of  Fasting 
and  Prayer— The  Pastoral  Letter— Its  Effect Page  138-173 

CHAPTER   X. 

THE  PERIOD  FROM  1775  TO  1788. 

Presbyterian  Sympathy  for  Freedom — Patriotic  Spirit — Opposition 
to    an    Episcopal    Establishment — Picture    of    1709 — Episcopal 


CONTENTS.  XIX 

Petition — Newspaper  Controversy--Attitude  of  the  Episcopal 
Churches — Conduct  of  the  Presbyterians — Their  Course  in  the 
Pulpit — John  Craighead — Cooper's  Sermons — Chaplains  in  the 
Army — Ministers  in  the  Ranks — Sufferings  and  Hardships  of  the 
Clergy — Imprisonment — Commingling  of  Carnal  and  Spiritual 
Weapons — Ministers  in  Civil  Service — Sufferings — Church-Edifices 
— Effect  of  the  War  on  Schools  and  Colleges — Influence  of  Camp- 
Life — Prevalent  Immorality  and  Disorder — Meetings  of  Synod — 
Return  of  Peace — Attendance  at  Synods — Ministerial  Support — 
Examination  of  Licentiates — Bibles  for  Distribution — Suffolk 
Presbytery — Synod's  Committee  of  Conference — Alliance  of 
Church  and  State  repudiated — Action  on  Slavery — Correspond- 
ence with  other  Churches — Change  in  the  Confession — Plan  agi- 
tated for  forming  a  General  Assembly — Committee  of  1785 — 
Draught  of  a  Constitution — Changes  and  Modifications — Lack  of 
Entire  Unanimity — Fear  of  Ecclesiastical  Strictness — The  Fear 
ungrounded — First  Moderator — Dr.  Green  and  the  Correspond- 
ence with  the  New  England  Churches Page  173-207 

CHAPTER  XI. 

ASSOCIATED    PRESBYTERIES. 

Secession  of  Jacob  Green  and  others — Green's  Objections  to  the  Pres- 
byterian System — Peaceable  Withdrawal — Joseph  Grover — Amzi 
Lewis — Ebenezer  Bradford — Morris  County  Associated  Presbytery 
formed — Its  Platform — Its  Pamphlet — Appendix — Licensing  Can- 
didates— Fund  for  Education — Growth  of  the  Presbytery — As- 
sociated Presbytery  of  Westchester — Its  Members,  History,  and 
Dissolution — Northern  Associated  Presbytery — Annual  Conven- 
tion proposed — Confession  of  Faith — The  Fourth  Presbytery — 
Fate  of  the  Secession Page  207-219 

CHAPTER  XII. 

THE    CAROLINAS — RISE    AND    PROGRESS    OP    THE    CHURCH. 

Project  of  Colonization — A  Charter  secured — Gross  Inconsistency— 
The  Early  Settlers — Scotch  Immigration — James  Campbell — First 
Churches — Hugh  McAden — Alexander  Craighead — Two  Routes 
of  Immigration — Applications  to  Synod — Henry  Patillo — David 
Caldwell — Missionaries — Orange  Presbytery — Thomas  Reese — 
James  Hall — S.  E.  McCorkle — The  Williamsburg  Church — Francis 


XX  CONTENTS 

Cummins — Robert  Tate — William  Richardson  and  others- 
James  McGready — East  Tennessee — Influence  of  the  War — Suf- 
fering occasioned  by  it — The  Church  and  Education — South  Caro- 
lina— The  First  Settlers — Their  Liberal  Principles — Scotch  Exiles 
and  Huguenots — A  Puritan  Element — Dorchester  and  Charleston 
Churches — Episcopal  Church  established  by  Law — Remonstrance 
— Archibald  Stobo — Dissenters  taxed — A  Presbytery  formed — Its 
Sympathies — Successors  of  Stobo — Hewatt — Buist — Presbytery 
applies  for  Union  with  the  Assembly Page  2ID-250 

CHAPTER  XIII. 

"  OLD  REDSTONE,"  1776-1793. 

Emigration  to  Western  Pennsylvania — Indian  Troubles — Beatty  and 
Dufifield's  Visit — Primitive  Condition  of  Society — Toils  and  Hard- 
ships of  Ministers — Character  of  the  People — Early  Settlements — 
Presbytery  of  Redstone  erected — James  Power — John  McMillan 
— Thaddeus  Dod — The  Log  Academy — Joseph  Smith — His  Latin 
School — Accessions  to  the  Presbytery — James  Dunlap,  James 
Finley,  John  Clark — Other  Ministers — Character  of  the  Pres- 
bytery—The Men  needed Page  250-268 

CHAPTER  XIV. 

GENERAL    ASSEMBLY,   1789-1800. 

The  Synod  divided — New  Synods — Changes  in  Presbyteries — General 
Assembly — Representation — The  First  Assembly — Address  to 
Washington — His  Reply — Overture  on  the  Subject  of  Appeal- 
Printing  the  Scriptures — Ostervald's  Notes — History  of  the  Mis- 
sionary Policy  of  the  Church — Steps  taken  by  the  Assembly — 
Synodical  Action — Circular  Letter — Missionary  Fund — Operations 
of  the  Synod  of  Virginia — Pittsburg  Synod — Memorials  on  Slavery 
— Editions  of  the  Confession — Relations  to  Other  Churches — Cor- 
respondence with  Connecticut  General  Association — Delegates  al- 
lowed to  vote — Psalmody — Measures  taken — Dwight's  Version — 
Caution  of  the  Assembly — Reports  of  Synods  in  1791 — New  Pres- 
byteries— Alarming  State  of  the  Country — Admonitory  Letter  of 
the  Assembly — More  Cheering  Prospects — Dawn  of  a  Revival 
Period Page  268-299 


CONTENTS.  XXI 

CHAPTER  XV. 

IIW    JERSEY    AND    PENNSYLVANIA,    1789-1800. 

New  Jersey  Churches — Newark — Dr.  McWhorter — Princeton  and 
Dr.  Witherspoon — Orange — Jedediah  Chapman — Other  Ministers 
— Signs  of  Progress — New  Churches  and  Ministers — Pennsylvania 
— Presbyteries  of  the  State — Dr.  John  Ewing — Dr.  James  Sproat 
— Dr.  George  Duffield — John  Blair  Smith — William  M.  Tennent 
— James  Grier — Presbytery  of  Carlisle — Church  of  Paxton — 
John  Elder — Dr.  Charles  Nisbet — Dickinson  College — Dr.  Robert 
Davidson — Dr.  Robert  Cooper — John  McKnight — John  Black — 
John  King — Samuel  Waugh — Robert  Cathcart — Other  Ministers — 
Vacant  Churches — Pastoral  Changes — Presbytery  of  Huntingdon 
— Its  Pastors — Redstone  Presbytery — Ohio  Presbytery — Original 
Members — Joseph  Patterson — Thomas  Marquis — Samuel  Ralston 
— James  Hughes — Elisha  Macurdy — John  Watson — John  Ander- 
son— Thomas  Moore — Other  Ministers — Candidates... Page  300-333 

CHAPTER  XVI. 

MARYLAND   AND    VIRGINIA,    1789-1800. 

Obstacles  to  the  Growth  of  the  Church — Western  Maryland — Balti- 
more Presbytery — First  Church  of  Baltimore — Dr.  Allison — 
Church  of  Alexandria — William  Thorn  —  Isaac  S.  Keith — First 
Church  of  Georgetown — Dr.  S.  B.  Balch — Other  Members  of  the 
Presbytery — Virginia — Hanover  Presbytery— Pastors  and  Churches 
— Episcopal  Church — Leading  Ministers — James  Waddel — Lexing- 
ton Presbytery — John  Brown,  of  New  Providence — Primitive  Call 
of  a  Pastor — Archibald  Scott,  of  Bethel  and  Brown's  Church — 
William  Wilson,  of  Augusta — Other  Ministers — Moses  Hoge  of 
Shepherdstown — Other  Pastors — Growth  of  the  Church  in  the  Val- 
ley— Presbytery  of  Winchester — Education  of  the  Ministers — 
Hampden-Sidney  College — Dr.  Samuel  S.  Smith — William  Graham 
and  Liberty  Hall- -The  Revival  in  the  Colleges — Students  converted 
that  enter  the  Ministry — Results  of  the  Revival Page  333-355 

CHAPTER  XVII. 

THE    CAROLINAS,    1789-1800. 

Synod  of  the  Carolinas — Growth  of  Orange  Presbytery — Ministers 
and  Churches  —  South  Carolina  Presby:ery —  Its  Ministers — ■ 
Changes  of   Forty   Years-—  Measures  of   the    Synod — Missionary 


XXII  CONTENTS. 

Policy — Now  Members  of  Orange  Presbytery — S.  0.  Caldwell — 
James  McGready — Lewis  F.  Wilson — Humphrey  Hunter — Robert 
M.  Cunningham — Moses  Waddel  and  others — John  Brown — John 
Robinson — Erection  of  the  Presbytery  of  Concord — Presbytery  of 
South  Carolina  divided — Members — Synod  of  1796  and  Slavery — 
James  Gilliland — New  Members — Synod  in  1800 — Presbyteries — 
Missionary  Operations Page  355-308 

CHAPTER  XVIII. 

NEW    YORK,    1789-1800. 

Number  of  Congregations — Number  in  the  Several  Presbyteries — 
Churches  of  Suffolk  Presbytery — Jamaica — Smithtown  and  Hamp- 
stead  —  Easthampton  —  Southampton  —  Southhold  —  Sagharbor— 
Smithtown  and  Islip — Huntington — Newtown — Dr.  Samuel  Buell — 
Benjamin  Goldsmith — Aaron  Woolworth — Effects  of  the  War — 
Improved  Prospects — The  Church  in  New  York  City  after  the  War 
— Renewed  Prosperity — Third  Church — Dr.  Rodgers — Dr.  Mille- 
doler — Dr.  McKnight — Associated  Presbytery  of  Westchester 
County — Presbytery  of  Dutchess  County — Members  and  Churches 
— Hudson  Presbytery — Its  Members — Florida  Church — Other 
Churches — Slow  Growth — Prominent  Ministers — Presbytery  of 
Albany — Dutch  Settlers — Cherry  Valley — Johnstown — Cambridge 
— Salem  —  Ballston  —  Other  Churches  —  Schenectady —  Albany — 
Ministers  and  Churches  of  the  Presbytery — Applications  to  it  for 
Aid — Changes — State  of  Things  in  1800 — Principal  Pastors — Union 
College — John  Blair  Smith — President  Nott — Origin  of  the  Plan 
of  Union — Genesee  Valley — Emigration — Spirit  of  the  General 
Association  of  Connecticut — Its  Committee — Western  New  York 
— Early  History  of  its  Settlement — Its  Missionary  Claims — 
Spread  of  Infidelity — Dearth  of  Ministers — Assembly's  Mission- 
aries—  More  Vigorous  Measures — Year  of  the  Great  Revival  — 
Jedediah  Bushnell — Letter  of  Seth  Williston — Origin  and  Spread 
of  the  Revival — Need  of  the  Stricter  System  of  Presbyterianism 
for  the  Churches — The  Two  Denominations — Early  Churches — 
Foundations  laid Page  368-402' 

CHAPTER  XIX. 

KENTUCKY,    1775-1800. 

Population  of  Kentucky  and  Tennessee — Constant  Immigration — 
Hardships — Ministers  needed — "  Father"  Rice — His  Interest  in 
the  Cause  of  Learning — Adam  Rankin  and  others — Robert  Mar- 


CONTENTS.  XX111 

fihftll  and  Carey  II.  Allen — Their  Journey  and  Labors  in  Kentucky — 
Allen's  Return,  accompanied  by  Calhoon,  to  Kentucky — Trou- 
bles respecting  Psalmody — Adam  Rankin  —  His  Zeal  for  Rouse's 
Version — Heleaves  the  Field — Returns,  and  leads  off  a  Secession — 
Vindication  of  the  Presbytery — Scottish  Missionaries — James 
Blythe — Samuel  Rannals — John  P.  Campbell — Joseph  P.  Howe — 
John  Lyle  and  Alexander  Cameron — Accession  of  Ministers — 
Robert  Stuart — Robert  Wilson — Other  Ministers  of  the  Presby- 
tery— The  Field  —  Its  Moral  and  Spiritual  Aspects  —  Obnoxious 
Influences — A  Critical  Period — Better  Prospects Page  403-422 

CHAPTER  XX. 

TENNESSEE,    1775-1800. 

Abingdon  Presbytery — Twelve  Years'  Growth — Churches  in  the  State 
— Pastors — Date  of  Churches — Transylvania  Presbytery — Early 
Settlements  in  the  State — Charles  Cummings — Hardships — Samuel 
Doak — A  Friend  of  Learning — Hezekiah  Balch — Other  Ministers — 
Robert  Henderson — Gideon  Blackburn — Samuel  Carrick — His  Re- 
ception— Pioneer  Life — Sermon  of  Carrick  and  Balch — Ramsey — 
Balch's  Hopkinsianism — His  Indiscretion Page  422-435 

CHAPTER  XXI. 

GENERAL   ASSEMBLY,    1800-1815. 

Era  of  Missionary  Societies — Various  Organizations  —  Missionary 
Zeal — Co-operative  Spirit  —  Need  of  United  Effort — "Plan  of 
Union" — Critical  Period — The  Spirit  of  the  Occasion — Synod  of 
Albany  and  New  Presbyteries — Act  of  Incorporation — Plan  for  a 
Mission  Fund — Assembly's  Magazine — Ministerial  Education — 
Methods  to  promote  it — Missionary  Arrangements  of  1802 — Synod 
of  Pittsburg  and  Missions — Other  Mission  Interests — Doak  in 
Tennessee — Gideon  Blackburn  and  the  Cherokees — His  Plan  en- 
dorsed by  the  Assembly — Missionary  Appointments  —  General 
Progress  —  Mission  Distribution  of  Books — Revivals  —  Influence 
of  the  War — The  Cause  of  Temperance — Dr.  Beecher — Duelling — 
Action  on  Slavery — The  Kentucky  Revival — Troubles  that  sprang 
out  of  it — Cumberland  Presbytery — Progress  of  the  Church — 
Missionary  Zeal — Revivals  reported  in  1810 — Presbyteries  formed 
— Mission  of  Mills  and  Schermerhorn — The  Mission-Field — Funds 
— Ministers  needed — Dr.  Green's  Overture — Favorable  Reception 
of  the  Plan  for  a  Seminary — Princeton  Seminary — Prominent  Min- 
isters of  the  Church  in  1815 — Others  more  obscurc.Page  436-470 


XXIV  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER   XXII. 

PENNSYLVANIA,   1800-1820 

The  Presbyteries — Growth  at  the  West — Relative  Increase — Presby- 
tery of  Philadelphia — Uriah  Dubois — John  B.  Linn — Dr.  J.  P.Wil- 
son— Dr.  Jacob  J.  Janeway — Dr.  Ezra  Stiles  Ely — G.  C.  Potts — 
Thomas  H.  Skinner— William  Neill— The  Seventh  Church— Other 
Churches — First  African — John  Gloucester — George  Chandler  and 
Kensington — James  Patterson  and  Northern  Liberties — John  F. 
Grier — Other  Pastors — Vacant  Churches — Carlisle  Presbytery — 
John  Linn — Dr.  McKnight — William  Paxton — Joshua  Williams — 
Dr.  McConaughy — Upper  Marsh  Creek — Robert  Kennedy — H.  R. 
Wilson — David  Denney,  John  Moody,  and  others — Presbytery  of 
Huntingdon — Presbytery  of  Northumberland — Synod  of  Pitts- 
burg— Strength  of  the  Presbyteries — Redstone  Presbytery — Dr. 
Power — Change  of  Forty  Years — Samuel  Porter — James  Dunlap — 
John  McPherrin — Joseph  Stockton — George  Hill — Francis  Herron 
— Second  Church  of  Pittsburg — Third  Church — Fourth  Church — 
Site  of  the  Seminary — William  Wylie — Dr.  Andrew  Wylie — Pres- 
bytery of  Ohio — Dr.  McMillan — Joseph  Patterson — James  Hughes 
— John  Brice — Thomas  Marquis — Cephas  Dodd — Samuel  Ralston 
— Other  Pastors — John  Anderson  —  President  Brown — Elisha 
Macurdy — Other  Pastors — Vacant  Churches — Presbytery  of  Erie — 
Vacant  Churches — Members  of  Presbytery — Thomas  E.  Hughes — 
Presbyteries  of  Steubenville  and  Washington — Grand  River  Pres- 
bytery— Cause  of  Collegiate  and  Theological  Education — Mission 
to  the  Indians — Operations  of  the  Pittsburg  Synod — Wyandotte 
Indians — Plan  of  the  Mission — Partial  Success — Labors  of  Mr. 
Badger — James  Hughes  and  his  Mission — Sympathies  of  Pittsburg 
Synod — Revival  of  1802 — Meeting  at  Three  Springs — At  Raccoon 
— At  Cross-Roads — "Bodily  Exercises" — Badger's  Statement — 
Spread  of  the  Revival — Statement  of  Mr.  Robbins — The  "Exer- 
cises"— Effects  of  the  Revival Page  471-549 

CHAPTER  XXIII. 

NEW   JERSEY,    1800-1820. 

Churches  of  the  State — Jersey  Presbytery — Newton  Presbytery — 
First  Church  Newark — Dr.  Griffin — Dr.  Richards — Dr.  Hilly er — 
Amzi  Armstrong — Dr.  McDowell — Dr.  King — Aaron  Condict — 
Other  Pastors — New  Brunswick  Presbytery — Dr.  S.  S.  Smith — 
Dr.  A.  Green — Dr.  Alexander — Dr.  Miller — President  Lindsley — 
Dr.  R.  Finley — Newton  Presbytery — Ministers  and  Churches — Re- 
vivals— Great  Meeting  at  Madison — Its  Effects Page  550-576 


THE  HISTORY 


PRESBYTERIAN   CHURCH 


UNITED  STATES. 


CHAPTER  I. 

FRANCIS    MAKEMIE. 


American  Presbyterianism,  like  American  civiliza- 
tion, has  derived  its  distinctive  character  from  many 
and  diverse  influences.  As  we  trace  the  course  of  its 
history  we  find  it  receiving  tributaries  from  distant 
and  varied  sources,  yet  all  blending  in  a  current  that 
flows  in  a  channel  of  its  own,  and  marked  at  every  step 
by  features  peculiar  to  itself.  Commingled  in  it,  and 
made  more  or  less  homogeneous  by  it,  we  find  the  ele- 
ments of  English  "  dissent,"  Irish  fervor,  Scotch  per- 
sistence, and  Huguenot  devotion.  There  is  scarce  a 
memorable  event  in  the  history  of  Protestantism  in  the 
Old  World  that  does  not  assist  to  elucidate  the  character 
of  its  founders.  It  inherits  alike  the  memories  of  the 
noble  men  who  fell  victims  to  the  bigotry  of  Alva  or 
Laud,  or  endured  the  brutal  cruelty  of  Lauderdale  or 
Jeffries.  In  the  annals  of  the  Genevan  republic,  the 
heroism  of  the  Netherlands,  the  sufferings  of  the  Hu- 

VOL.    I.— 1  1 


XXIV  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER   XXII. 

PENNSYLVANIA,    1800-1820. 

The  Presbyteries — Growth  at  the  West— Relative  Increase — Presby- 
tery of  Philadelphia — Uriah  Dubois — John  B.  Linn — Dr.  J.  P.Wil- 
son— Dr.  Jacob  J.  Janeway — Dr.  Ezra  Stiles  Ely — G.  C.  Potts — 
Thomas  H.  Skinner— William  Neill— The  Seventh  Church— Other 
Churches — First  African — John  Gloucester — George  Chandler  and 
Kensington — James  Patterson  and  Northern  Liberties — John  F. 
Grier — Other  Pastors — Vacant  Churches — Carlisle  Presbytery — 
John  Linn — Dr.  Mc Knight — William  Paxton — Joshua  Williams — 
Dr.  McConaughy — Upper  Marsh  Creek — Robert  Kennedy — H.  R. 
Wilson — David  Denney,  John  Moody,  and  others — Presbytery  of 
Huntingdon — Presbytery  of  Northumberland — Synod  of  Pitts- 
burg— Strength  of  the  Presbyteries — Redstone  Presbytery — Dr. 
Power — Change  of  Forty  Years — Samuel  Porter — James  Dunlap — 
John  McPherrin — Joseph  Stockton — George  Hill — Francis  Herron 
— Second  Church  of  Pittsburg — Third  Church — Fourth  Church — 
Site  of  the  Seminary — William  Wylie — Dr.  Andrew  Wylie — Pres- 
bytery of  Ohio — Dr.  McMillan — Joseph  Patterson — James  Hughes 
— John  Brice — Thomas  Marquis — Cephas  Dodd — Samuel  Ralston 
— Other  Pastors — John  Anderson  —  President  Brown — Elisha 
Macurdy — Other  Pastors — Vacant  Churches — Presbytery  of  Erie — 
Vacant  Churches — Members  of  Presbytery — Thomas  E.  Hughes — 
Presbyteries  of  Steubenville  and  Washington — Grand  River  Pres- 
bytery— Cause  of  Collegiate  and  Theological  Education — Mission 
to  the  Indians — Operations  of  the  Pittsburg  Synod — Wyandotte 
Indians — Plan  of  the  Mission — Partial  Success — Labors  of  Mr. 
Badger — James  Hughes  and  his  Mission — Sympathies  of  Pittsburg 
Synod — Revival  of  1802 — Meeting  at  Three  Springs — At  Raccoon 
— At  Cross-Roads — "Bodily  Exercises" — Badger's  Statement — 
Spread  of  the  Revival — Statement  of  Mr.  Robbins — The  "Exer- 
cises"— Effects  of  the  Revival Page  471-549 

CHAPTER  XXIII. 

NEW   JERSEY,    1800-1820. 

Churches  of  the  State — Jersey  Presbytery — Newton  Presbytery — 
First  Church  Newark — Dr.  Griffin — Dr.  Richards — Dr.  Hilly er — 
Amzi  Armstrong — Dr.  McDowell — Dr.  King — Aaron  Condict — 
Other  Pastors — New  Brunswick  Presbytery — Dr.  S.  S.  Smith — 
Dr.  A.  Green — Dr.  Alexander — Dr.  Miller — President  Lindsley — 
Dr.  R.  Finley — Newton  Presbytery — Ministers  and  Churches — Re- 
vivals— Great  Meeting  at  Madison — Its  Effects Page  550-576 


THE  HISTORY 


PRESBYTERIAN   CHURCH 


UNITED  STATES. 


CHAPTER  I. 

FRANCIS    MAKEMIE. 


American  Presbyterianism,  like  American  civiliza- 
tion, has  derived  its  distinctive  character  from  many 
and  diverse  influences.  As  we  trace  the  course  of  its 
history  we  find  it  receiving  tributaries  from  distant 
and  varied  sources,  yet  all  blending  in  a  current  that 
flows  in  a  channel  of  its  own,  and  marked  at  every  step 
by  features  peculiar  to  itself.  Commingled  in  it,  and 
made  more  or  less  homogeneous  by  it,  we  find  the  ele- 
ments of  English  "  dissent,"  Irish  fervor,  Scotch  per- 
sistence, and  Huguenot  devotion.  There  is  scarce  a 
memorable  event  in  the  history  of  Protestantism  in  the 
Old  World  that  does  not  assist  to  elucidate  the  character 
of  its  founders.  It  inherits  alike  the  memories  of  the 
noble  men  who  fell  victims  to  the  bigotry  of  Alva  or 
Laud,  or  endured  the  brutal  cruelty  of  Lauderdale  or 
Jeffries.  In  the  annals  of  the  Genevan  republic,  the 
heroism  of  the  Netherlands,  the  sufferings  of  the  Hu- 

VOL.    I.— 1  1 


2  HISTORY    OF    PRESBYTERIANISM. 

guenots, — culminating  in  the  bloody  St.  Bartholomew, — 
the  sterling  conscientiousness  of  the  Puritans,  and  the 
unswerving  loyalty  to  Christ's  crown  and  covenant 
evinced  by  the  countrymen  of  John  Knox,  may  be  dis- 
cerned the  elements  of  that  training  which  shaped  the 
views  and  character  of  its  founders. 

Thus,  without  taking  any  other  church  on  earth  as 
its  model,  it  was  built  up  out  of  materials  drawn  from 
sources  the  most  diverse,  and  into  a  structure  that  con- 
stitutes its  own  type.  Even  here  it  was  modified  by 
local  influences, — sometimes  constrained  in  the  New 
"World  to  renew  the  struggle  which  had  become  too 
familiar  in  the  Old,  and  to  protest  against  an  intolerance 
which  could  not  but  revive  memories  of  Acts  of  Con- 
formity, bigoted  proscription,  or  Claverhouse's  dragoons. 
Yet  ere  long  it  was  left  unmolested,  and,  in  a  field  broad 
enough  to  tax  its  utmost  energies,  was  called  to  the 
task  of  competing  with  other  denominations  in  the 
noble  work  of  evangelizing  a  young  and  growing 
empire. 

Although  it  was  not  till  after  the  commencement  of 
the  eighteenth  century  that  the  Presbyterian  Church 
in  this  country  assumed  an  organized  form,  yet  many 
of  the  elements  that  were  finally  assimilated  and  em- 
bodied in  it  had  been  long  acclimated  on  these  "Western 
shores.  The  Plymouth  Church  conformed — almost  as 
far  as  in  its  isolated  position  was  possible — to  the 
French  Presbyterian  type.1  The  early  Synods  of  New 
England  repeatedly  and  emphatically  endorsed  the 
importance  of  the  eldership.  The  Synods  themselves 
were  the  concession  of  public  conviction  to  the  neces- 
sity for  a  supervision  of  the  churches  which  a  state 
theocracy  strove  vainly  to  supply.  Not  a  few  of  the 
leading  minds  of  New  England  regretted  and  opposed 

1  Life  of  Brewster. 


FRANCIS    MA  K  KM  IE.  6 

the  tendencies  upon  which  the  churches  were  for  many- 
years  steadily  drifting  towards  a  relaxation  of  church 
order  and  discipline,  and  it  is  scarcely  surprising  that 
the}-  should  have  strongly  favored  the  Presbyterian 
system,  when  they  felt  constrained,  like  Stone  of  Hart- 
ford, to  define  Congregationalism  as  "a  speaking  aris- 
tocracy in  the  face  of  a  silent  democracy ,"  or  to  say  of 
it,  with  the  elder  Edwards,  "I  have  long  been  out  of 
conceit  of  our  unsettled,  independent,  confused  way  of 
church  government  in  this  land." 

Nor  were  there  wanting  those,  even  in  New  England, 
who  had  been  educated  under  the  Presbyterianism  of 
men  like  Owen  and  Baxter  and  Manton  and  Jacomb, 
but  who  with  their  liberal  sympathies  readily  adopted 
the  ecclesiastical  usages  of  the  land  of  their  adoption. 
But  as  they  went  abroad, — some  of  them  removing  to 
Long  Island  and  some  to  New  York  and  New  Jersey, — 
they  just  as  liberally  and  readily  acquiesced  in  the 
forms  and  methods  of  their  new  religious  associations, 
and,  like  Burr  of  Newark  and  Dickinson  of  Elizabeth- 
town, — without  violating  their  convictions  or  sacrificing 
an  iota  of  principle, — became  the  leaders  in  the  ranks 
of  the  Presbyterian  Church. 

Thus,  long  before  the  first  Presbytery  was  formed, 
quite  a  number  of  churches  on  Long  Island  and  in  New 
Jersey  which  subsequently"  became  identified  with  the 
Presbyterian  Church  had  been  organized  by  the  de- 
scendants of  the  Puritans,  and  mainly  by  New  England 
men.  In  only  one  or  two  instances  is  it  probable  that 
the  church  was  possessed  of  a  Presbyterian  organiza- 
tion j  but  their  sympathies  were  one  with  Protestant 
Dissenters,  whether  in  the  mother  country  or  its  colo- 
nies. The  New  England  Puritan  affiliated  readily  with 
the  "  Scotch  Independent/'  which  in  the  lips  of  a  Church- 
man was  often  a  Bynonym  for  Presbyterian,  and  in  tho 
absence  of  thai  stale  supervision  of  die  churches  which 


4  HISTORY   OF   TRESBYTERIANISM. 

constituted  the  administration  of  the  "  New  England 
Theocracy,"  he  felt  the  propriety  and  yielded  to  the 
expediency  of  an  organization  to  which  should  be  com- 
mitted "  the  care  of  the  churches." 

By  the  year  1700  there  must  have  been  in  the  colo- 
nies of  New  York  and  New  Jersey  from  ten  to  fifteen 
churches  which  were  of  a  New  England  origin  and 
type.  It  is  more  than  possible  that  the  church  at 
Jamaica  was  organized  as  Presbyterian,1  and  if  so  it 
is  probably  the  only  one  of  them  all  entitled  to  claim 
this  distinction  until  at  least  some  years  after  the  form- 
ation of  the  first  Presbytery.  Nor  did  it  come  into 
connection  with  Presbytery  until  some  time  subsequent 
to  its  organization.2 

The  man  to  whom  the  honor  belongs  of  laying  the 
foundations  of  the  Presbyterian  Church,  as  an  organized 
body,  in  this  country,  is  Francis  Makemie.  He  was 
an  Irishman, — born  near  Eathmelton,  Donegal  county, 
Ireland, — a  student  at  one  of  the  Scotch  universities, 
and  a  licentiate  of  the  Presbytery  of  Laggan  in  1681. 
Three  years  later,  after  laboring  a  while  in  Barbadoes,3 
he  organized  the  Presbyterian  Church  in  Snow  Hill, 
Maryland.  Here,  in  the  narrow  neck  of  land  between 
the  Chesapeake  and  the  ocean,  sheltered  by  the  mild 

i  See  Macdonald's  Jamaica. 

2  Macdonald's  "History  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  of  Jamaica, 
L.I."  (new  and  enlarged  edition),  published  since  the  above  was 
written,  labors  to  show  that  the  Jamaica  Church  is  the  oldest  exist- 
ing church  of  the  Presbyterian  name  in  America.  He  certainly 
renders  this  highly  probable.  And  yet  the  church  is  spoken  of  by 
Vesey  and  others  as  one  of  Scotch  Independents,  and  the  fact  that 
it  stood  in  connection  with  no  presbytery  until  after  Macnish  com- 
menced his  pastorate,  forces  us  to  regard  it  as  Independent  Pres- 
byterian, and  not  an  integral  portion  of  "  The  Presbyterian  Church 
in  the  United  States"  as  already  organized  by  the  Presbytery  at 
Philadelphia. 

3  Foote's  Sketches,  First  Series,  p.  42. 


FRANCIS    MAKKMIE.  5 

laws  of  a  colony  founded  by  a  Roman  Catholic  noble- 
man, the  Presbyterian  Church  of  America  began  its 
existence.1 

It  is  probable,  indeed,  that  other  Presbyterian  con- 
gregations had  been  gathered  before  this  in  other 
localities.  But  their  condition  must  have  been  far 
from  promising,  and  rarely  could  they  have  enjoyed 
the  ordinances  of  the  sanctuary.  The  population  was 
sparse,  and  there  were  no  "  towns."  Makemie  notices 
it  as  "  an  unaccountable  humor"2  that  no  attempts  were 
made  to  build  them.  The  people  were  scattered  like 
sheep  in  the  wilderness,  and  a  large  portion  of  his  labor 
was  to  search  them  out.  Soon  after  he  had  commenced 
his  ministry  in  Maryland,  he  found  on  Elizabeth  River 
in  Virginia  "  a  poor  desolate  people"  mourning  the  loss 
of  their  "  dissenting  ministers  from  Ireland,"  who  had 
been  removed  by  death  the  summer  previous.8  It  was 
not  long  before  quite  a  number  of  congregations  were 
gathered  in  the  region  which  he  had  selected  as  his  field 
of  labor.  An  itinerant  missionary,  and  in  reality  the 
bishop  of  a  primitive  diocese,  he  journeyed  from  place 
to  place,  sometimes  on  the  Eastern  Shore  of  Maryland, 
sometimes  in  Virginia,  and  sometimes  extending  his 
journeys  as  far  as  South  Carolina.  To  the  extent  of 
his  ability  he  supplied  the  feeble  churches,  but  he  deeply 
felt  the  need  of  others  to  assist  him.  To  obtain  these 
was  an  object  of  paramount  importance,  and  he  spared 
no  eifort  to  attain  it.  With  this  end  in  view,  he  cor- 
responded with  ministers  in  London  and  in  Boston. 
But  he  was  not  content  with  this.  He  broke  away — 
we  may  be  sure  at  a  great  sacrifice — from  the  pressing 

1  From  1649  to  1692,  Maryland  enjoyed  perfect  religious  tolera- 
tion. In  the  latter  year  the  Episcopal  was  made  the  Established 
Church.  The  attempt  to  introduce  this  innovation  was  made  in 
1677,  but  defeated  by  Lord  Baltimore. 

2  Sprague,  iii.  2.  3  lb.  iii.  6. 


6  HISTORY    OF    PRESBYTERIANISM. 

calls  around  him  that  he  might  personally  urge  his 
appeals.  He  crossed  the  ocean  and  applied  to  the 
Independent  and  Presbyterian  ministers  of  London  for 
aid.  He  visited  New  England  and  consulted  with 
Mather.  Indefatigable  in  effort,  clear-sighted  and 
sagacious  in  his  views,  liberal  in  sentiment,  fearless  in 
the  discharge  of  duty,  and  shrinking  from  no  burden, 
his  name  needs  no  eulogy  beyond  the  simple  record  of 
what  he  accomplished  and  endured. 

Makemie  had  been  but  a  few  years  in  Maryland  when 
the  English  Eevolution  took  place.  For  the  English 
Dissenter  it  secured  some  of  his  just  rights,  but  its' 
benefits  were  scarcely  felt  on  this  side  of  the  ocean 
Indeed,  in  Maryland  it  resulted  in  the  establishment  by 
law  of  the  Episcopal  Church.  The  principles  of  religious 
liberty  were  not  to  be  vindicated  here  without  a  strug- 
gle, and  the  early  history  of  the  American  Presbyterian 
Church  rallies  around  it  the  sympathies  of  every  friend 
of  civil  and  religious  freedom.  The  experience  of 
Makemie  in  a  New  York  prison,  or  before  a  royal  judge, 
reminds  us  of  Baxter  and  the  abuse  heaped  upon  him 
by  the  infamous  Jeffries  j  while  the  history  of  the  Vir- 
ginia Dissenters  is  not  unworthy  a  place  by  the  side  of 
that  of  the  English  Non-conformists  of  1662. 

Makemie  in  1703-4  visited  England  and  procured  as 
fellow-laborers  John  Hampton  and  George  Macnish.1 
They  returned  with  him  to  Maryland, — sent  out  and 
sustained  by  the  London  Union  of  Presbyterian  and 
Independent  ministers.  But  when  they  reached  Mary- 
land it  was  to  experience  the  intolerance  that  allowed 
that  colony  no  longer  the  enviable  reputation  for  reli- 
gious freedom  which  it  once  enjoyed.  The  Episcopal 
had  now  become  the  Established  Church,  and  no  Dis- 
senter was  allowed  to  preach  without  a  license.     For 

1  Usually,  but  incorrectly,  spelled  McNish. 


FRANCIS    MAKEMIE.  7 

many  years  in  New  York,  Virginia,  Maryland,  and 
South  Carolina,  the  growth  of  the  Presbyterian  Church 
was  checked  by  persecution  and  intolerance.  We  can- 
not do  justice  to  the  spirit  of  the  first  Presbyterian 
ministers  and  their  noble  vindication  of  religious 
liberty,  without  a  brief  review  of  the  conditions  of 
their  fields  of  labor. 

For  a  long  period  Virginia  rivalled  the  mother  coun- 
try it  the  hardships  with  which  she  treated  all  but 
Episcopalians.  The  Established  Church  was  exclusively 
tolerated  and  sustained  by  law,  and  every  form  of  dis- 
sent was  accounted  obnoxious.  For  three-quarters  of 
a  century  it  was  suppressed  by  the  most  rigid  laws, 
and  for  another  three-quarters  of  a  century  it  was  at 
best  but  barely  tolerated,  and  in  some  cases  altogether 
interdicted.  In  the  earlier  period  the  laws  against  those 
who  did  not  conform  were  peculiarly  rigid.  By  the 
Act  of  1618,  absentees  from  the  parish  church  were 
punished  by  a  fine  and  a  night  in  the  stocks,  and  for 
the  third  offence  by  being  made  slaves  to  the  colony  for 
a  year  and  a  day.  In  the  revisal  of  1642  the  Act  for 
Conformity  was  made  more  severe  on  ministers.  The 
Governor  and  Council  were  directed  to  send  away  any 
who  did  not  comply  with  this  enactment.  Nor  was  the 
law  suffered  to  remain  a  dead  letter. 

There  was  already  in  Virginia  a  Puritan  leaven  long 
before  the  arrival  of  Makemie.1  In  1607,  Eev.  Henry 
Jacobs  fled  with  the  celebrated  John  Eobinson  to 
Leyden.  He  subsequently  returned  to  England  and 
organized  the  first  Congregational  Church  in  that 
country  in   1616.     In  1624,  he  emigrated  to  Virginia* 

1  Prince's  Chronology. 

2  In  1624  Henry  Jacob,  who  had  been  the  pastor  of  the  South- 
wark  Congregational  Church,  London,  left  his  charge  and  removed 
to  Virginia,  where  he  died.  The  scene  and  duration  of  his  labors 
are  uncertain,  but  in  1642  (May  24)  Richard  Bennet,  Daniel  Gookin, 


O  HISTORY    OF    PRESBYTERIANISM. 

with  thirty  members  of  his  congregation.  He  was 
succeeded  in  his  labors  in  this  country  by  Eev.  Mr. 

John  Hyll,  and  others,  to  the  number  of  seventy-one  persons,  wrote 
to  the  ministers  of  New  England,  speaking  of  themselves  as  "inha- 
bitants of  the  county  of  the  Upper  Norfolk  in  Virginia,"  and  as 
having  prepared  an  address  to  the  ministers  in  an  appeal  for  help 
in  the  previous  year.  At  the  later  date  they  speak  of  "the  present 
incumbent"  being  determined  to  leave  them,  so  that  they  are  forced 
to  provide  for  themselves.  The  county,  they  say,  is  of  large 
extent,  and  it  had  been  found  necessary  to  divide  it  into  three  parts, 
each  of  which  wa's  willing  to  support  a  pastor.  Philip  Bennet  was 
agent  for  the  applicants,  who  desired  to  obtain  three  ministers,  such 
as  should  on  trial  be  found  "faithful  in  pureness  of  doctrine  and 
integrity  of  life." 

The  Virginia  letters  were  read  publicly,  and  a  time  was  ap- 
pointed to  consider  them.  Phillips  of  Watertown,  Tompson  of 
Braintree,  and  Miller  of  Rowley,  were  designated.  The  first 
declined,  and  his  colleague  Knowles  consented  to  take  his  place. 
Miller's  health  forbade  his  compliance.  Knowles  and  Tomp- 
son set  out,  and  at  New  Haven  were  joined  by  James,  formerly  of 
Charlestown.  They  were  eleven  weeks  in  reaching  their  destination ; 
but  when  they  reached  their  field  of  labor  they  were  greatly  en- 
couraged. 

Their  labors  were  greatly  prospered;  but  the  authorities  silenced 
them,  and  they  returned  in  less  than  a  year.  But  Thomas  Harri- 
son, the  chaplain  of  the  Governor,  had  been  brought  under  their 
influence,  and  had  adopted  and  begun  to  preach  their  evangelical 
views.  Virginia  renewed  its  application  to  Massachusetts  for  help. 
William  Durand  of  Upper  Norfolk  wrote  also  to  New  Haven  urging 
John  Davenport  (Felt,  i.  515)  to  advance  the  sending  of  ministers 
to  Virginia.  He  states  that  his  friends  had  thought  of  applying  in 
England  for  pastors,  but  had  concluded  that  those  of  best  qualifi 
cations  were  to  be  found  in  New  England. 

Knowles,  Tompson, — whose  wife  died  on  the  mission, — and  James, 
had  scarcely  left  Virginia  when  the  Indians  rose  and  massacred 
a  large  number  of  the  settlers.  A  "  mortal  sickness"  also  prevailed, 
and  the  Governor  likewise  ordered  those  who  would  not  conform  to 
Episcopacy  to  leave  the  jurisdiction.  Harrison  was  left  alone, — 
pastor  of  a  church  at  Nansemond  gathered  by  the  missionaries  and 
composing  "a  large  congregation," — but  in  1648  he  also  left  for 


FRANCIS    MAKEMIE.  9 

Lathrop.  Congregational  ist  Dissenters  were  thus  in- 
troduced into  Virginia  at  an  early  period. 

In  1641,  a  gentleman  from  Virginia  by  the  name  of 
Bennet  visited  Boston  with  letters  from  Virginia  resi- 
dents to  New  England  ministers,  "bewailing  their  sad 
condition  for  want  of  the  glorious  gospel/'  and  entreat- 
ing that  they  might  thence  be  supplied.  The  letters 
were  openly  read  at  Boston  upon  a  lecture-day,  and  the 
subject  was  taken  up  in  earnest.  Tompson  and 
Knowles,  colleague-pastors  at  Watertown  and  Brain* 
tree,  were  selected  for  the  mission,  and  on  their  way 
were  joined  by  James  of  New  Haven. 

Their  voyage  was  slow  and  difficult.  They  began 
"  to  suspect  whether  they  had  a  clear  call  of  God  to  the 
undertaking,"  but  their  success  on  their  arrival  soon 
dispelled  their  fears.  The  magistrates,  indeed,  gave 
them  little  encouragement,  but  from  the  people  they 
received  a  warm  welcome.  In  several  parts  of  the 
country  "  there  were  many  people  brought  home  to 
God."  But  they  were  not  long  left  unmolested.  The 
Episcopal  clergy  were  far  from  exemplary  in  the  dis- 
charge of  their  duties.1  They  felt  the  rebuke  of  a 
better  example,  and  at  their  instance,  or  at  least  with 
their  sanction,  the  laws  against  dissent  were  enforced 
against  the  New  England  ministers.  They  were  "  dis- 
charged from  public  preaching  in  Virginia,"  but  they 
continued  their  labors  in  private,  "  and  did  much  good." 
They  were  at  length,  however,  forced  to  leave. 

In  1648,  the  Virginia  Puritans  were  still  numerous. 
About  one  hundred  and  eighteen  were  associated  under 

New  England,  and  his  people,  to  avoid  persecution,  thought  of  remov- 
ing to  the  Bahamas.  Tims  "dissent"  was  rooted  out  of  the  colony 
just  so  far  as  intolerance  could  effect  it. — Felt's  X<  w  England,  i.  216, 
471-7,  487,  4r.o\  515,  5:^-7 :   ii.  7. 

1  Bishop  Meade's  Churches  of  Virginia. 


10  HISTORY    OF    PRESBYTERIANISM. 

the  pastoral  care  of  Harrison,  who  bad  been  tbe  Go- 
vernor's chaplain,  but  who,  from  the  moment  be  showed 
a  leaning  to  the  Puritans,  was  looked  upon  with  disfavor. 
He,  too,  withdrew  to  New  England,  and  the  congrega- 
tions were  scattered.  During  the  time  of  Cromwell 
(about  1§56),  we  still  find  traces  of  the  Puritans.  A  cer- 
tain people  congregated  into  a  church,  calling  them- 
selves "  Independents,"  was  found  to  be  "  daily  increas- 
ing," and  "  several  consultations  were  had  how  to  sup- 
press and  extinguish  them."  These  consultations  bore 
fruit.  "  The  pastor  was  banished,  next  their  other 
teachers,"  while  of  the  people  some  were  imprisoned  or 
disarmed,  till  "  they  knew  not  in  those  straights  how  to 
dispose  of  themselves."  It  was  estimated  that  the  num- 
ber of  this  class  of  Dissenters  amounted  at  this  period 
to  about  a  thousand. 

In  16G2,  the  laws  were  made  still  more  rigid  against 
Non-conformists.  The  Quakers,  as  well  as  Puritans, 
experienced  harsh  treatment.  It  seems  probable  that, 
in  spite  of  adverse  legislation,  quite  a  number  of  Pres- 
byterian or  Independent  Dissenters  still  remained  in 
the  colony;  but  they  were  scattered  and  disorganized, 
and  subject  to  many  disabilities.  It  was  in  these  cir- 
cumstances that  Makemie  first  visited  the  region.  On 
the  borders  of  Maryland,  but  within  the  Virginia 
line,  was  the  place  of  his  residence;  yet  it  was  ten  years 
after  the  toleration  edict  of  1689  before  he  could  pro- 
cure a  legal  license  to  preach  in  Yirginia.  And  even 
then  he  had  no  light  difficulties  to  encounter.  The 
spirit  of  the  preceding  period  still  survived,  and  for 
half  a  century  longer  Presbyterians  were  regarded 
with  great  disfavor. 

Meanwhile,  efforts  were  made,  in  the  face  of  great 
difficulties  and  discouragement?,  to  extend  the  Presby- 
terian Church  in  other  directions.1      The  town  of  Ja- 

1  Ministers  were  sent  from  New  England  to  New  York,  1685,  at 


FRANCIS    MAKEMIE.  11 

maica  on  Long  Island  had  been  largely  settled  by 
Presbyterians.  In  1702,  they  numbered  over  a  hun- 
dred families,  "exemplary  tor  all  Christian  knowledge 
and  goodness."  They  had  a  church  valued  at  six  hun- 
dred pounds,  and  a  parsonage  at  more  than  double  thai 
amount.  In  1702,  the  town  chose  Presbyterian  church- 
wardens and  vestrymen,  and  settled  as  their  pastor  John 
Hubbard,  a  native  of  Ipswich,  Mass.,  and  a  classmate  of 
Andrews  of  Philadelphia.  But  High-Church  intolerance 
was  in  the  ascendency  in  the  colony,  and  the  Presby- 
terians were  ejected  to  make  room  for  the  Episcopalians. 
Bartow,  the  church-missionary  of  West  Chester,  in 
Hubbard's  absence,  took  possession  of  the  church  and 
began  to  read  the  Liturgy.  Hubbard  arrived,  and, 
finding  what  was  the  state  of  things,  withdrew,  and 
assembled  the  congregation,  wTho  furnished  themselves 
seats  and  benches  from  the  church,  in  a  neighboring 
orchard.  Bartow  meanwhile  concluded  his  services, 
locked  the  door  of  the  church,  and  gave  the  key  to  the 
sheriff.  The  people  demanded  it,  but  were  refused. 
The  Governor,  Lord  Cornbury,  thanked  Bartow  for 
what  he  had  done,  but  summoned  Hubbard,  with  the 
heads  of  the  congregation,  before  him,  and  forbade  him 
any  more  to  preach  in  the  church.1 

Nor  was  this  all.  He  added  meanness  to  injustice. 
During  the  great  sickness  of  1702,  in  New  York,  Corn- 
bury  entreated  Hubbard,  in  a  friendly  manner,  for  the 
use  of  the  parsonage.  It  was  granted ;  but  Cornbury 
requited    the    favor   by   putting   the    house,   when    he 


the  desire  of  Governor  Andrews.  Pierson  and  Bishop  of  Stamford 
wrote  to  I.  Mather  of  Boston  and  Shepard  of  Charlestown,  that  they 
had  conversed  with  the  Governor,  and  that  he  expressed  the  wish  that 
several  plantations  might  be  supplied  with  honest  and  able  minis- 
ters, promising  them  encouragement. — Felf,  X.  England,  ii.  679. 

1  See  N.  Y.  Doc.  Hist,  and  McDonald's  Hist,  of  the  Church  of  Ja- 
maica. 


12  HISTORY    OF    PRESBYTERIANISM. 

vacated  it,  into  the  hands  of  the  Churchmen.  Without 
form  or  due  course  of  law,  he  gave  the  sheriff  a  war- 
rant to  dispossess  Hubbard  of  the  glebe :  this  was  sur- 
veyed out  into  lots,  and  leased  for  the  benefit  of  the 
Episcopalians.  The  aggrieved  party  were  "afraid  to 
petition"  for  redress. 

The  Presbyterians  of  Bedford,  in  West  Chester  county, 
N.Y.,  had  petitioned  for  a  minister.  The  petition  re- 
mained unanswered  "  until  an  abdicated  Scotch  Jacobite 
parson  obtruded  upon  them,  that  insults  intolerably 
over  them,  is  consulted  with."  Such  was  the  domineer- 
ing and  tyrannic  style  in  which  liberty  of  conscience 
was  dealt  with  in  the  province  of  New  York.  "  If  a 
people  want  a  minister,  they  must  have  a  license  to 
call  one,  whether  from  New  England  or  Europe;  a 
license  to  admit  ministers  to  attend  any  ordination,  and 
limited  for  number,  and  tied  up  from  exercising  their 
ministry  without  license,  though  in  a  transient  manner; 
which  has  drove  some  out  of  the  government,  and  de- 
terred others  from  coming  thereunto;  which  informs 
all,  what  liberty  of  conscience  Dissenters  do  enjoy." 

In  what  spirit  the  authorities  of  the  colony  would 
receive  dissenting  preachers  from  abroad  may  readily 
be  surmised.  In  January,  1707,  Makemie  and  Hampton, 
on  their  way  to  New  England,  doubtless  to  procure  sup- 
plies for  newly  organized  churches  in  their  own  neigh- 
borhood, passed  through  New  York.  Makemie  proposed 
to  preach  in  the  Dutch  church;  but  Lord  Cornbury 
forbade  him.  In  consequence  of  this,  at  the  earnest 
request  of  a  number  of  individuals,  he  preached  a  ser- 
mon at  the  house  of  William  Jackson,  in  Pearl  Street. 
The  exercises  were  as  public  as  possible.  The  doors 
were  thrown  open,  and  the  sermon  was  printed.  This 
was  on  Sunday,  the  20th  of  January.  The  same  day 
Hampton  preached  at  Newtown,  on  Long  Island,  in 
the  public  meeting-house,  offered  by  the  inhabitants. 


FRANCIS    MAKEMIE.  13 

Here  he  was  joined  on  Wednesday  by  Makemie,  who  by 
public  appointment  was  to  preach  that  day.  But  no 
Booncr  had  he  arrived  than  he  and  Hampton  were  both 
apprehended  by  the  sheriff  Cardale,  acting  under  the 
authority  of  a  warrant  from  Lord  Cornbury. 

The  prisoners  were  taken  before  the  Governor  at 
Fort  Anne,  New  York.  Cornbury  demanded  of  them 
how  they  dared  preach  under  his  government  without  a 
license.  Makemie  referred  him  to  the  Toleration  Act 
of  King  William  in  1689.  He  told  them  this  did  not 
extend  to  the  American  Plantations.  Makemie  replied 
that  it  was  not  a  limited  or  local  act,  and  adduced  his 
certificates  of  license  from  courts  of  record  in  Mary- 
land and  Virginia.  Worsted  in  the  argument,  Cornbury 
appealed  to  the  act  of  Parliament  directed,  as  he  said, 
against  strolling  preachers,  and  told  Makemie  and  Hamp- 
ton that  they  were  such.  "  There  is  not  one  word,  my 
lord,"  said  Makemie,  "mentioned  in  any  part  of  the 
law,  against  travelling  or  strolling  preachers/'  To  this 
the  Governor  could  only  reply,  "  You  shall  not  spread 
your  pernicious  doctrines  here."  Makemie  told  him 
that  the  doctrines  he  taught  were  found  in  "  our  con- 
fession of  faith,"  and  challenged  all  the  clergy  of  New 
York  to  show  any  thing  false  or  pernicious  in  them, 
adding  that  he  could  make  it  appear  that  they  were 
agreeable  to  the  established  doctrines  of  the  Church  of 
England.  "  But  these  Articles,"  replied  the  Governor, 
"you  have  not  signed."  "As  to  the  Articles  of  religion" 
said  Makemie,  "  I  have  a  copy  in  my  pocket,  and  am 
ready  at  all  times  to  sign,  with  those  exceptions  specified 
in  the  law." 

Upon  this,  the  Governor  charged  him  with  preaching 
in  a  private  house.  Makemie  replied  that  his  lordship 
had  denied  him  permission  to  preach  in  the  Dutch 
church,  and  hence  he  had  been  necessitated  to  do  as 

Vol.  I.— 2 


14  HISTORY    OF    PRESBYTERIANISM. 

he  had  done;  but  he  had  preached  "in  as  public  a 
manner  as  possible,  with  open  doors." 

Again  Cornbury  fell  back  upon  his  instructions,  de- 
claring none  should  preach  without  his  license.  Make- 
mie  replied  that  the  law,  and  not  his  instructions,  was  the 
rule  for  him.  He  could  not  be  guided  by  what  he  had 
never  seen  and  perhaps  never  should  see.  "Promul- 
gation," said  he,  "is  the  life  of  the  law."  The  Gover- 
nor then  demanded  that  they  should  give  bonds  and 
security  for  good  behavior  and  not  to  preach  any 
more  under  his  government.  "For  our  behavior," 
said  Makemie,  "  though  we  endeavor  to  live  always  so 
as  to  keep  a  conscience  void  of  offence  towards  God 
and  man,  we  are  willing  to  give  it;  but  to  give  bond 
and  security  to  preach  no  more  under  your  Excellency's 
government,  if  invited  and  desired  by  any  people,  we 
neither  can  nor  dare  do."  "  Then  you  must  go  to  jail," 
said  the  Governor.  It  was  in  vain  that  Makemie  re- 
monstrated. Lord  Cornbury  sat  down  to  write  out 
the  necessary  papers  for  their  discharge  from  the  cus- 
tody of  Cardale  and  their  commitment  in  New  York. 
While  he  was  doing  so,  Hampton  demanded  of  him 
a  license,  but  it  was  peremptorily  denied.  Makemie 
moved  that  it  was  highly  necessary  that  the  law  should 
be  produced  before  their  commitment,  and  offered  to 
remunerate  the  attorney  if  he  would  produce  the  limit- 
ing clause  of  the  act.  But  the  motion  was  disregarded. 
In  a  contemptuous  tone,  the  Governor  asked  Makemie  if 
he  knew  law.  "  I  do  not,"  replied  Makemie,  "  pretend  to 
know  law;  but  I  pretend  to  know  this  particular  law, 
having  had  sundry  disputes  thereon."  He  had  quite  a 
large  collection  of  law-books  in  his  library. 

The  copy  of  their  commitment  was  made  out.  It 
was  illegal  in  several  respects.  It  was  granted  and 
signed  by  the  Governor,  and  not  by  any  sworn  officers 
appointed  and  authorized  by  law.     The  queen's  name 


FRANC  IS    MAKEMIE.  15 

or  authority  was  nol  mentioned  in  it.  No  crime  was 
alleged  as  a  ground  oi'  commitment,  and  the  direction 
to  the  sheriff  to  keep  them  safely  was  not,  "until  they 

are  delivered  by  due  course  of  law"  but,  "until  further 
orders." 

Thus  Makemie  and  Hampton  found  themselves  im- 
prisoned with  no  prospect  of  immediate  release.  They 
petitioned  the  Governor  for  a  knowledge  of  their  crime, 
and,  as  they  were  strangers  on  their  way  to  New  Eng- 
land, and  four  hundred  miles  from  their  habitations, 
for  "  a  speedy  trial  according  to  law,"  which  they 
humbly  conceived  to  be  "  the  undoubted  right  and 
privilege  of  every  English  subject."  To  this  petition 
a  verbal  but  unsatisfactory  reply  was  returned  through 
the  sheriff.  They  could  not  learn  "  the  right  way  to 
have  a  trial."  Petitioning  to  be  admitted,  in  the  cus- 
tody of  the  sheriff,  to  make  application  to  the  Quarter 
Sessions  in  order  to  offer  themselves  "for  qualification 
as  the  law  directs,"  they  were  again  rebuffed,  and  the 
messengers  who  presented  the  petition  were  severely 
threatened. 

They  now  resolved  "to  trouble  his  Excellency  with 
no  more  petitions,"  but  presented  their  application  to 
the  Quarter  Sessions.  Their  petition  was  looked  at  and 
handed  about,  but  allowed  no  reading  in  open  court.  To 
the  chief-justice,  Roger  Mompesson,  they  made  applica- 
tion after  an  imprisonment  of  several  weeks,  and  a  writ 
of  habeas  corpus  was  granted.  But  when  it  was  to  be 
served,  the  sheriff  told  them  he  had  a  new  mittimus, 
wherein  their  crime  was  specified,  by  which  it  was  evi- 
dent tli at  for  more  than  six  weeks  they  had  been  sub- 
jected t<»  false  and  illegal  imprisonment.  To  complete 
the  iniquity ,  the  sheriff  demanded  the  payment  of  twelve 
dollars  for  the  commitment,  and  as  much  more  for  the 
return  of  the  writ, — refusing,  moreover,  receipts  for  the 
money  when  it  had  been  paid. 


16  HISTORY    OF    PRESBYTERIANISM. 

The  case  was  now  brought  before  the  grand  jury,  atid 
a  true  bill  found  against  Makemie;  for  though  Hampton 
was  equally  an  offender,  he  was  dropped  from  the  in- 
dictment. The  trial  came  on  upon  the  4th  of  June. 
The  iniquity  of  the  prosecution  was  abundantly  shown, 
and  after  his  attorneys  had  concluded  their  arguments, 
Makemie  arose  and  spoke  in  his  own  defence.  With 
great  force  of  argument  he  vindicated  himself  from 
every  charge,  and  showed  himself  more  than  a  match 
for  the  prosecuting  attorney.  He  showed  great  fami- 
liarity with  the  English  laws  bearing  upon  the  subject 
of  toleration,  and  effectually  set  aside  the  authority  of 
the  Governor's  instructions  as  a  rule  of  law.  The  jury 
brought  in  a  verdict  of  not  guilty,  and  solemnly  declared 
that  they  believed  the  defendant  innocent  of  any  viola- 
tion of  law.  Yet  in  spite  of  the  verdict,  and  his  own 
plea  for  moderate  charges,  the  bill  of  costs  which  he 
was  forced  to  pay  amounted  to  more  than  eighty-three 
pounds. 

Even  after  this,  Makemie  was  not  left  unmolested. 
He  narrowly  escaped  a  second  prosecution,  based,  if 
possible,  on  even  weaker  grounds  than  the  first.  A 
strange  intolerance  pursued  him  as  a  chief  offender, 
but  the  object  was  to  obstruct  the  preaching  of  all 
Presbyterian  ministers.  The  Dutch  and  other  Dis- 
senters neither  asked  nor  would  receive  a  license;  yet 
they  were  not  disturbed.  But  any  attempt  of  Presby- 
terian ministers  to  extend  their  Church  was  seriously 
obstructed. 

Nor  was  New  York  the  only  province  in  which  they 
had  to  encounter  gross  and  severe  intolerance.  The 
statutes  of  Virginia,  as  we  have  already  seen,  were  so 
framed  as  scarcely  to  recognize  even  the  existence  of 
the  Toleration  Act  of  1689.  In  Maryland  the  petitions 
of  Hampton  and  Macnish  for  licenses  to  preach  in  ac- 
cordance with  the  act,  were  opposed  by  Episcopal  in- 


FRANCIS    MAKKMIE.  17 

fluence.  The  vesl  ry  of  the  parish  of  < Jovenl  ry  appeared, 
against  them,  encouraged,  as  is  supposed,  by  Rev.  Robert 
Keith,  of  Dividing  Creek.  The  petitions  were  referred 
to  the  Governor  and  Council,  and  were  finally  granted, 

Mr.  Hampton  settling  at  Snow  Hill.  Still  the  hard- 
ships imposed  upon  Dissenters  even  in  this  colony, 
established  originally  on  principles  of  equal  liberty,  but 
where  the  Episcopal  Church  was  now  established,  were 
by  no  means  light.  A  tax  of  forty  pounds  of  tobacco 
was  imposed  on  every  "taxable,"  to  meet  the  expense 
of  building  and  repairing  churches  and  supporting 
ministers.  The  meeting-houses  of  Dissenters  were  to 
be  "  unbarred,  unbolted,  and  unlocked."  The  nature 
of  the  obstacles  thrown  in  the  way  of  the  Presbyterians 
and  other  Dissenters  may  be  judged  from  the  character 
of  the  Episcopal  clergy  of  that  day  in  Virginia  as  well 
as  Maryland, — the  off-scouring  of  the  English  Church, — 
men,  for  the  most  part,  according  to  Bishop  Meade,  far 
more  worthy  to  be  ejected  from  society  than  to  lead  or 
instruct  the  flock. 

In  the  Carolinas,  moreover,  Presbyterians  were  made 
to  feci  the  edge  of  intolerant  legislation.  During  the 
troublous  period  from  the  Eestoration  to  the  Eevolution 
(1660-1688)  they  had  sought  a  shelter  from  persecu- 
tion in  a  colony  in  which  civil  and  religious  rights  were 
solemnly  guaranteed  to  them.  They  had  increased  in 
numbers,  and  amounted  in  South  Carolina  to  several- 
thousands.  But  in  1703,  by  methods  that  savored  of 
the  brutality  of  Jeffries  and  the  bigotry  of  James  II., 
the  Episcopal  was  made  by  law  the  established  Church. 
Dissenters  of  all  classes  were  taxed  for  its  support,  and 
those  who  did  not  conform  were  disfranchised.  They 
who  had  left  England  for  freedom  of  conscience  were 
pursued  by  English  intolerance  across  the  ocean,  and, 
in  spite  of  their  earnest  remonstrance  and  appeal  to 
Parliament,  the  yoke  was  fastened  to  their  necks  and 

2* 


18  HISTORY    OF    FRESBYTERIANISM. 

they  were  politically  and  socially  degraded  by  a  legisla- 
tion which,  to  prop  up  Episcopacy,  violated  the  solemn 
pledge  in  the  faith  of  which  they  had  become  exiles 
from  their  native  land. 

Thus  amid  scenes  of  intolerance  and  persecution  the 
Presbyterian  Church  in  this  country  commenced  its 
career.  But  it  soon  manifested,  in  the  persons  of  its 
adherents,  a  vital  energy  that  was  to  overbear  obnox- 
ious statutes  and  tyrannic  legislation.  The  treatment 
which  Makemie,  Hubbard,  Hampton,  Macnish,  and 
others  experienced  at  the  hands  of  royal  Governors  or 
servile  judges,  fitly  links  the  history  of  American  Pres- 
byterianism  with  the  memories  of  the  English,  Irish, 
and  Scotch  Dissenters  under  the  reigns  of  the  Stuarts. 


CHAPTEK  II. 


THE    FIRST    PRESBYTERY. 


The  first  Presbytery  formed  in  this  country  dates 
from  1705  or  1706.  The  loss  of  the  first  leaf  of  the 
records  leaves  the  precise  time  uncertain.  Our  first  view 
of  it  is  obtained  from  the  minutes  of  a  meeting,  called 
probably  at  Freehold,1  N.J.,  for  the  purpose  of  ordain- 
ing Mr.  John  Boyd.  It  consisted  at  this  time  of  seven 
ministers,  Francis  Makemie,  John  Hampton,  George 
Macnish,   Samuel   Davis,   John   Wilson,  Jedediah  An- 

1  The  church  at  Freehold  was  organized  about  1692,  and  John 
Boyd,  who  died  in  1708,  was  the  first  minister.  A  charter  of  in- 
corporation for  this  church,  including  those  of  Allentown  and 
Shrewsbury,  was  obtained  through  the  influence  of  Governor  Belcher. 
(Hodge,  i.  56.)  The  country  around  Upper  Freehold  was  at  that  time 
a  wilderness  full  of  savages. —  Webster,  323. 


THE    JIRST    PRESBYTERY.  19 

drews,  and  Nathaniel  Taylor.  Some  of  these  men  had 
been  for  many  yours  laboring  in  their  respective  fields. 
In  1684,  Makemie  was  performing  the  duties  of  pastor 
of  the  church  at  Snow  Hill,  which  he  had  assisted  to 
organize.  He  had  been  ordained  an  Evangelist  in  1G81,1 
and  sent  out  by  Laggan  Presbytery,  on  the  applica- 
tion of  Colonel  Stevens  of  Maryland,  aa  a  missionary  to 
this  country.  For  some  time  he  labored  in  Barbadoes, 
and  afterwards  on  reaching  Maryland,  "  notwithstand- 
ing all  obstacles,  his  hearers  and  congregations  multi- 
plied." It  became,  consequently,  his  great  anxiety  to 
obtain  more  laborers  for  the  extensive  and  inviting 
field  which  was  opened  before  him.  With  this  object 
in  view,  he  corresponded  with  Increase  Mather  of  Bos- 
ton,2 and  at  length  crossed  the  ocean  and  applied  for 
aid  to  the  Presbyterian  Congregational  Union  of  Lon- 
don, which  Increase  Mather  had  had  a  hand  in  forming. 

His  application  was  not  in  vain.  "  A  respectable 
body  of  Dissenters  in  London3  sent  out,  for  the  purpose 
of  serving  as  evangelists  in  the  middle  and  southern 
colonies  of  America,  two  itinerants  for  the  space  of  two 
years."4  These  they  undertook  to  support,  engaging 
afterwards  to  send  out  others  on  the  same  conditions. 

This  was  in  1704-5.  Makemie  'returned  in  the  fall 
of  1705  with  the  two  ministerial  brethren,  "  his  asso- 
ciates,"5 John  Hampton  and  George  Macnish.  Accord- 
ing to  law,  since  the  Toleration  Act  was  designed  to 
take  effect  in  the  colonies,  they  were  entitled  to  the 
unmolested  exercise  of  their  ministry.  Macnish  com- 
menced  preaching  at  Monokin  and  Wicomico;  Hamp- 
ton, who  had  applied  with  him  to  Somerset  Court  to 
be  qualified,  meanwhile  going  north  with  Makemie  to 
!N"ew  York. 

i  Foote's  Sketches.  2  Webster,  297. 

3  Miller's  Life  of  Rodgers,  90.  *  Foote,  52. 

&  ibid.  53:   Webster,  90. 


20  HISTORY    OF   PRESBYTERIANISM. 

Of  the  other  members  of  the  Presbytery,  Samuel 
Davis  was  residing  in  Delaware  as  early  as  1692,  when 
that  Quaker  convert  to  Episcopacy,  George  Keith, 
visited  him.  John  Wilson,  as  early  as  1702,  preached 
in  the  court-house  at  New  Castle,1  but,  becoming  dis- 
satisfied, removed.  In  a  few  months,  however,  "  finding 
it  not  for  the  better,"  he  returned.  He  was  doubtless 
one  of  those  who  gave  Keith  occasion  to  speak  of  Cot- 
ton Mather's  "  emissaries/'2 

Of  these,  Andrews  also  was  accounted  one.  He  was 
born  at  Hingham,  Mass.,  in  1674,  and  graduated  at 
Harvard  in  1695.  In  1698,  at  the  instance  of  the  "New 
England  Doctors/'  if  we  are  to  regard  the  insinuations 
of  Keith,  he  went  to  Philadelphia.  The  Quaker  schism 
had  opened  the  way  for  the  commencement  of  religious 
services  by  Baptists,  Presbyterians,  and  Episcopalians, 
and,  as  the  latter  withdrew  from  common  services,  the 
Baptists  proposed  to  the  Presbyterians  that  Mr.  An- 
drews and  his  infant  congregation  should  unite  with 
them.  The  negotiation,  however,  proved  futile,  and  in 
1701  Andrews  was  ordained.  His  congregation  was  far 
from  homogeneous.  At  the  outset  there  were  "  nine 
Baptists  and  a  few  Independents  in  the  town."  There 
were,  moreover,  Scotch,  Welsh,  Swedish,3  and  New  Eng- 
land elements.  The  prospect  for  the  young  congre- 
gation was  far  from  promising.  "  The  Presbyterians," 
says  the  Episcopal  missionary  Talbot,  "  have  come  a 
great  way  to  lay  hands  on  one  another;  but,  after  all, 

1  The  Presbyterian  church  in  New  Castle  is  believed  to  be  the  con- 
tinuation of  the  Dutch  church  which  William  Penn  found  in  exist- 
ence in  1683.  Wilson  probably  commenced  his  labors  here,  con- 
tinuing there  till  after  the  formation  of  the  Presbytery. 

2  Prot,  Hist,  Col.,  i.  07. 

3  The  Wicacoe  (Swedish)  church,  near  the  navy-yard,  was  organ- 
ized in  1675,  by  order  of  the  general  courts,  held  at  New  Castle  in 
that  year.— Old  Records,  Vol.  B.  F. 


TIIE    FIRST    PRESBYTERY.  21 

I  think  they  had  as  good  stay  ai  borne,  for  all  the  good 
they  do.  .  .  In  Philadelphia  one  pretends  to  be  a  Presby- 
terian, and  has  a  congregation  to  which  be  preaches." 
The  prospect  was  but  little  better  in  1703.  "They  have 
line."  says  Keith,  "  a  Presbyterian  meeting  and  minis- 
ter, one  called  Andrews;  but  they  are  not  like  to  in- 
crease here." 

They  did  increase,  however.  Under  the  influence  and 
labors  of  Andrews  the  heterogeneous  mass  began  to 
coalesce.  In  1705,  five  adults  were  baptized;  in  170(3, 
four  more. 

We  have  thus  the  elements  which  were  to  give  to 
American  Presbyterianism  its  earliest  distinctive  type, 
brought  together  in  the  first  Presbytery.  Makemio 
was  a  correspondent  of  Increase  Mather,  and  an  appli- 
cant for  missionary  aid  to  the  Dissenters  of  London, 
composed  of  Presbyterians  and  Congregationalists.  By 
them,  his  two  "  associates,"  Hampton  and  Macnish,  were 
supported  for  several  years.1  Andrews  was  a  Massachu- 
setts man,  and  Wilson,  originally  from  Scotland,  but  an 
emigrant  to  Connecticut,  was  probably  an  emissary  of  the 
"  New  England  Doctors."  Taylor  was  settled  on  the  Pa- 
tuxent,  over  a  congregation  composed  to  a  considerable 
extent  of  Independents;  although  the  body  consisted 
originally,  according  to  tradition,  of  a  colony  of  two 
hundred  from  Fifeshire.  They  arrived,  with  Taylor  as 
their  pastor,  it  is  said,  in  1690,  and  founded  the  church 
of  Upper  Marlborough.  Davis  can  scarcely  be  taken  into 
account :  for  fourteen  years  he  had  labored  in  Delaware 

1  Rev.  George  Macnish  was  umloubtedlj  a  Scotchman.  His  name 
(which  he  wrote  as  above)  indicates  it;  his  descendants  assert  it; 
and  Rev.  Mr.  Poyer  of  Jamaica,  in  a  letter  of  April,  1714,  to  the 
society  in  England,  styles  him  "a  Scotch  Independent  preacher," 
and  in  another  letter  "an  Independent  North  Britain  preacher." 

J.  R. 


22  HISTORY   OF   PRESBYTER1ANISM. 

before  a  Presbytery  was  formed,1  and  never  attended 
its  sessions  afterwards,  except  upon  a  single  occasion.2 
Nor  was  the  intrusion  of  the  "emissaries"  uncalled 
for.  Keith  had  split  the  Quakers,  and  was  itinerating 
over  the  whole  land  in  behalf  of  Episcopacy.  He 
preached  at  Boston,  and  Increase  Mather  felt  called 
upon  to  print  a  refutation.  Keith's  answer  was  pub- 
lished at  New  York,  and  circulated  in  the  Jerseys  and 
in  Philadelphia,  where  he  preached  with  unwearied 
zeal.  He  needed,  consequently,  to  be  met  on  his  own 
ground.  Those  among  whom  he  scattered  his  pecu- 
liar doctrines  were  many  of  them  in  sympathy  with 
Mather.  According  to  Keith  himself,  "  the  people  of  East 
Jersey  who  are  not  Quakers  are  generally  Independ- 
ents, having  originally  come  from  New  England."  He 
thought  that  "the  young  generation  might  easily  be 
brought  off  to  the  Church,"  if  "  the  Church"  was  only 
set  up  among  them. 

There  was  indeed  danger  of  this.  In  East  and  West 
Jersey,  "except  in  two  or  three  towns,  there  was  no 
place  of  public  worship  of  any  sort."  The  people  lived 
"very  mean,  like  Indians."  The  difficulty  was  to  get 
ministers  of  any  kind.  The  Church  of  England  was 
especially  unfortunate  in  those  whom  she  sent  out. 
"We  want  a  great  many  good  ministers  here  in  Ame- 
rica," wrote  Talbot;3 "  but  we  had  better  have  none  at  all 
than  such  scandalous  beasts  as  some  make  themselves, — 
not  only  the  worst  of  ministers,  but  of  men."  Such 
as  these  were  not  wanted.  "  Those  that  we  have  to  deal 
with,"  he  continues, "  are  a  sharp  and  inquisitive  people  : 
they  are  not  satisfied  with  one  doctor's  opinion,  but 
must  have  something  that  is  authentic,  if  we  hope  to 
prevail  with  them." 


i  Webster,  p.  311.  2  Dr.  Hill. 

3  Epis.  Hist.  Col.  xxxvii. 


THE    FIRST    PRESBYTERY.  23 

The  zeal  of  Keith  and  Talbot  was  groat.  They  were 
encouraged  by  the  Society — then  recently  formed — for 
the  Propagation  of  the  Gospel  in  Foreign  Parts.  All 
the  Episcopal  clergy  in  the  provinces  north  of  Virginia 
were  its  missionaries.1  In  1700,  there  were  less  than 
half  a  dozen  of  them  in  this  part  of  the  country,  and 
only  one  in  Pennsylvania.  Before  the  first  Presby- 
tery was  formed,  there  were  five  Episcopal  congrega- 
tions in  that  State;  and  in  the  course  of  two  years  the 
society  in  England  sent  out  thirteen  missionaries. 
Jealousy  of  New  England  stimulated  Episcopal  zeal. 
They  were  especially  afraid  lest — to  use  their  own  lan- 
guage— "Presbyterian  ministers  from  New  England 
would  swarm  into  these  countries  and  prevent  the 
increase  of  the  Church."  The  people  showed  them- 
selves, as  Talbot  thought,  only  too  ready  to  accept  these 
"  emissaries. "  "  They  send,"  he  says,  "  to  New  Eng- 
land, and  call  any  sorry  young  man,  purely  for  want 
of  some  good  honest  clergyman  of  the  Church  of 
England." 

At  Woodbridge,  N  J.,  in  1703,  there  was  an  "  Independ- 
ents' meeting-house,"  and  Keith  was  glad  of  the  chance 
to  preach  in  it.  This  was  one  of  the  places  named  by 
Cockburn  in  1685,  in  reference  to  the  wants  of  which 
he  says,  writing  to  Scotland,  "there  is  nothing  dis- 
courages us  more  than  want  of  ministers  here.  .  .  .  They 
have  a  mind  to  bring  them  from  Scotland."  But  along 
with  the  Scottish  settlers  in  the  troublous  period  of 
James  II.  there  came  also  colonists  from  New  England. 
Nearly  half  a  century  before,  New  Haven  had  shown 
extreme  persistence  in  the  resolution  to  sustain  her 
claims  to  the  territory.  At  every  favorable  opportunity, 
she  had  sent  out  loads  of  emigrants.  Once  the  Dutch 
Governor  at  Manhattan   had   seized  their  vessel   and 

1  Wilborforce,  Hist.  Epis.  Churoh. 


24  HISTORY   OF   PRESBYTERIANISM. 

forced  them  to  return.  They  applied  to  Cromwell  for 
aid;  but  the  Protector  died  too  soon  to  help  them.  Yet 
they  were  not  discouraged;  and  as  soon  as  Dutch  rule 
vanished  from  New  Amsterdam,  the  often-defeated 
project  was  revived.  That  "sharp  and  inquisitive 
people"  whom  the  Episcopal  missionaries  found  it  hard 
to  deal  with,  poured  in,  and  before  the  close  of  the 
seventeenth  century  the  laws  of  the  colony  attested 
the  presence  of  those  who  are  called  indifferently  In- 
dependents and  Presbyterians.1  Indeed,  notwithstand- 
ing the  Scotch  element,  a  very  large  proportion  of  the 
early  settlers  were  from  New  England,  although  a  con- 
siderable number  of  Quakers  had  here  found  refuge. 
Mather  and  the  "New  England  Doctors"  would  have 
acted  a  part  unworthy  of  themselves  if  they  had 
lacked  active  sympathy  with  Presbyterians  in  the 
neighboring  colonies.  If  they  could  have  modelled 
their  own  Churches  anew,  they  would  have  secured 
them  the  advantages  of  Synods  and  ruling  elders.3 

In  Philadelphia,  Andrews  was  greatly  encouraged. 
The  Episcopal  missionaries  were  jealous  of  his  pro- 
gress. "  There  is,"  says  Talbot  (1705),  "  a  new  meet- 
ing-house built  for  Andrews,  and  almost  finished,  .  .  . 
which  I  am  afraid  will  draw  away  great  part  of  the 
Church,  if  there  be  not  the  greatest  care  taken  of  it." 
The  first  Presbytery  met  in  that  house.  Andrews  and 
Makemie  were  kindred  spirits,  and  the  Presbytery  was 
the  result  of  their  co-operative  councils.  Each  was  a 
missionary,  and  felt  the  burden  of  care  for  the  Churches. 
Makemie  traversed  the  country  to  Boston,  and  crossed 
the  ocean,  to  obtain  ministers.  Andrews  could  not  so 
well  leave  his  post,  but  he  was  scarcely  less  active. 
He  went  abroad  on  preaching-tours  through  the  sur- 
rounding  region,  in   Pennsylvania    and    the   Jerseys 

1  Mulford's  Hist,  of  New  Jersey.         2  Pres.  Quar.  Rev.,  Jan.  1859. 


THE    FIRST  PRESBYTERY.  25 

Quite  a  number  of  congregations  were  gathered  at 
various  points,  and  ministers  were  needed  to  supply 
them.  This  was  the  subject  of  greatest  anxiety  to  the 
Presbytery.  They  were  little  anxious  whence  they 
came,  if  they  were  only  good  men.  They  wrote  to 
New  England,  Scotland,  Ireland,  and  the  Congregational 
and  Presbyterian  Union  of  London,  to  procure  them. 
Evidently  their  ecclesiasticism  was  of  no  very  rigid 
type.  The  argument  for  the  Scotticism  of  the  original 
Presbytery,  drawn  from  the  presumption  that,  if  any 
considerable  New  England  element  was  in  union  with 
it,  it  would  have  manifested  itself  in  a  form  of  govern- 
ment more  or  less  allied  to  Congregationalism,  is  utterly 
invalid.  The  early  ecclesiasticism  of  New  England  was 
largely  Presbyterian.1 

The  correspondence  of  the  Presbytery  at  this  early 

1  The  sympathy  between  the  Presbyterian  churches  and  New  Eng- 
land was  perfectly  natural.  Robinson  (see  "Life  of  Brewster")  was  a 
Presbyterian,  and  claimed  that  his  church  at  Leyden  was  conformed 
to  the  rule  of  the  French  Presbyterian  Church.  In  1G06,  Brewster 
was  chosen  elder  in  Robinson's  congregation,  and  in  1609  was  made 
Robinson's  assistant.  He  declined,  however, — as  only  an  elder, — to 
administer  the  ordinances,  even  when  the  church  at  Plymouth  had 
no  other  teacher.  Then  the  church  at  Plymouth  was  in  reality  a 
Presbyterian  Church,  with  Brewster  for  its  ruling  elder. — Princes 
Chronology,  pp.  114,  120. 

A  permanent  ruling  eldership  was  accepted  as  a  principle  of 
church  order  by  the  eaidy  New  England  settlers.  (lb.  177.)  Salem 
and  Charlestown  had  ruling  elders  (263-311),  Watertown  and 
Boston.  (358,  365,  409.)  The  office  is  distinctly  recognized  by  the 
Synods  of  New  England,  at  Cambridge,  in  1646  and  1680;  and  at 
the  latter  date  the  Westminster  Confession  was  adopted. — Mather's 
Mag.  ii.  180,  207.  The  Synod  of  Connecticut,  in  1708  (Say brook 
Platform),  adopted  it.  Even  Eliot  ordained  elders  at  Martha's 
Vineyard. — Mather,  i.  515. 

Synods  were  held  at  Cambridge  in  1637,  1649,  1667,  1679,  1680, 
and  at  Boston  in  1662,  all  of  which  distinctly  name  ruling  elders  as 
officers  in  the  Chore*.—  Mather,  ii.  192,  207,  238,  279,  289.  This 
Vol.  I.— 3 


26  HISTORY    OF    PRESBYTERIANISM. 

period  throws  light  upon  the  liberal  spirit  by  which  it 
was  animated.  In  1708,  a  letter  was  written  to  certain 
ministers  in  Connecticut.  It  speaks  of  the  object  of  the 
formation  of  the  Presbytery, — "for  the  furthering  and 
promoting  the  true  interests  of  religion  and  godliness." 
It  declares,  "  It  is  our  universal  desire  to  walk  in  the 
nearest  union  and  fellowship  with  the  churches  in  those 
parts  where  you  inhabit,  not  knowing  any  difference  in 
opinion  so  weighty  as  to  inhibit  such  a  proposal,  nor 
doubting  of  your  cordial  assent  thereto." 

In  1709,  a  letter  to  Sir  Edmund  Harrison,  an  emi- 
nent Dissenter  in  London,  states,  "  It  is  a  sore  distress 
and  trouble  to  us,  that  we  are  not  able  to  comply  with 
the  desires  of  sundry  places  crying  unto  us  for  minis- 
ters to  deal  forth  the  word  of  life  unto  them;  therefore 
we  most  earnestly  beseech  you,  in  the  bowels  of  the 
Lord,  to  intercede  with  the  ministers  of  London  and 
other  well-affected  gentlemen,  to  extend  their  charity 

■was  the  distinct,  feature  of  the  organization  adopted  by  the  Synod 
in  1680,  in  accordance  with  "Heads  of  Agreement"  in  England,  in 
the  formation  of  which,  in  1690,  Dr.  Increase  Mather  bore  a  distin- 
guished part. — Mather,  ii.  233,  235. 

Thus  at  the  formation  of  the  first  Presbytery  there  was  no  repre- 
sentation of  such  Congregationalism  as  that  which  prevails  to-day 
on  this  continent;  and  the  apparent  laxness  in  the  language  of  the 
Saybrook  Platform  is  merely  a  copy  of  the  "Heads  of  Agreement" 
of  1690  on  this  point.— F. 

There  was  no  diversity,  therefore,  really,  between  the  Irish  Pres- 
byterians and  the  New  England  "  emissaries  "  in  the  matter  of 
ecclesiastical  sympathy.  The  doctrine  and  discipline  of  New  Eng- 
land was  regarded  as  identical  with  that  of  the  Dissenters  in  Great 
Britain  and  the  more  southern  provinces  in  this  country.  The 
founders  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  were  as  anxious  to  procure 
ministers  from  New  England  as  Mather  was  to  send  them.  For 
them,  help  from  this  source  was  a  matter  of  convenience  and  neces- 
sity, and  they  found  those  who  joined  them  one  with  themselves 
in  the  matters  of  church  order  and  discipline. 


THE    FIRST   PRESBYTERY.  27 

and  pity  to  us,  to  carry  on  so  accessary  and  glorious  a 
work  ;  otherwise  many  people  will  remain  in  a  perish- 
ing condition  as  to  spiritual  things."  There  is  no  trace 
of  Scotch  jealousy  or  rigid  ecclesiasticism  in  this  epis- 
tle.1 

In  1710,  a  letter  was  sent  to  the  Presbytery  of  Dublin 
in  response  to  their  desire  for  a  correspondence  to  "  be 
settled  and  continued  from  time  to  time."  It  narrates 
briefly  the  efforts  of  Makemie  with  the  ministers  of 
London,  and  expresses  the  conviction  that  had  they — ■ 
"our  friends  at  home" — been  equally  watchful  and 
diligent  as  the  Episcopal  society  in  London,  "our  in- 
terest in  most  foreign  plantations  might  have  carried 
the  balance."  With  saddened  feelings,  they  confess  the 
weakness  of  their  numbers.  In  Virginia  there  was  but 
one  congregation,  on  Elizabeth  Biver;  "in  Maryland 
only  four,  in  Pennsylvania  five,  and  in  the  Jerseys  two, 
with  some  places  of  New  York."  The  Presbytery 
request  their  friends  in  Dublin  to  raise  the  sum  of  sixty 
pounds  to  support  for  a  year  an  itinerant  minister 
whom  they  were  to  send  out,  at  the  same  time  inform- 
ing them  that  they  had  exerted  their  influence  to 
secure  a  similar  favor  from  the  ministers  of  London, 
"  in  the  hands  of  Eev.  Mr.  Calamy."1 

In  the  same  year  a  letter  was  addressed  to  the  Synod 
of  Glasgow.  It  was  invited  by  the  assurance  of  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Synod,  of  its  "  willingness  to  correspond  with 
us  in  what  concerns  the  advancement  of  the  Mediator's 
interest  in  those  regions  where  our  lot  is  fallen."  Of 
the  Synod,  the  Presbytery,  in  view  of  the  urgent  de- 
mand for  ministers,  make  a  request  similar  to  that 
which  they  had  made  to  the  Presbytery  of  Dublin. 


1  The  London  ministers  to  whom  the  letters  were  addressed  were 
the  very  men  who  adopted  the  "Heads  of  Agreement"  nineteen 
years  before. 


28  HISTORY    OF    TRESBYTERIANISM. 

From  London  there  came  back  a  cheering  response, 
for  which  the  Presbytery  expressed  their  gratitude  in 
the  warmest  terms.  In  1712,  Thomas  Reynolds  en- 
gaged, for  the  ensuing  year,  to  advance  thirty  pounds 
for  missionary  labor  within  the  bounds  of  the  Presby- 
tery; promising,  according  to  his  capacity,  to  do  what 
he  could  to  serve  them  in  after-years.  "  I  should  be 
glad,"  he  says,  "to  be  an  instrument  of  disappointing 
any  that  can  encourage  no  expectation  from  us."  The 
aid  was  seasonable;  it  proved  "the  relief  of  some  weak 
congregations,"  unable  to  maintain  their  own  ministers. 

Prom  the  time  of  its  formation,  the  Presbytery  con- 
tinued steadily  to  increase  in  numbers  and  strength. 
At  its  meeting  in  1706,  John  Boyd,  a  probationer  from 
Scotland,  was  ordained,  and  commenced  his  labors  in 
New  Jersey  at  Freehold  and  Middletown.  In  1708, 
"  trials"  were  appointed  to  Mr.  Joseph  Smith  (from  New 
England),  whose  settlement  was  desired  among  them  by 
the  people  of  Cohansey.  In  1710,  John  Henry  and  James 
Anderson  were  received;  the  first — invited,  upon  the 
death  of  Makemie,  by  his  people,  to  succeed  him — was 
from  the  Presbytery  of  Dublin;  the  last,  settled  first  at 
New  Castle  and  afterward  in  New  York,  was  from  Scot- 
land. At  the  same  meeting,  Nathaniel  Wade,  who  had 
been  ordained  and  settled  at  Woodbridge,  N.J.,  by  the 
ministers  of  Fairfield  county,  previous  to  1708,  and 
Joseph  Morgan,  who,  after  several  years  of  discourag- 
ing experience  in  West  Chester  county,  N.Y.,  had  set- 
tled in  1709  at  Freehold,  were  received  as  members  of 
the  body. 

Early  in  1712,  George  Gillespie  had  been  licensed  by 
the  Glasgow  Presbytery.  He  came  shortly  after  to 
New  England,  with  letters  from  Principal  Stirling  to 
Cotton  Mather.  By  the  latter  he  was  recommended  to 
the  divided  people  of  Woodbridge,  but  finally  settled 
at  White  Clay  Creek,  at  the  same  time  extending  his 


THE    FIRST  PRESBYTERY.  29 

care  to  the  congregations  of  Red  Clay,  Lower  Brandy- 
wine,  and  Elk  River,  in  Delaware.1 

The  people  of  Patuxent  applied  the  same  year  to 
friends  in  London  to  procure  a  pastor,  and  Daniel 
McGill  was  sent  over.  In  the  two  following  years  the 
Presbytery  was  strengthened  by  the  accession  of  four 
new  members,  Howell  Powell,1  Malachi  Jones.  Robert 
Witherspoon,3  and  David  Evans, — all  but  Witherspoon 
(who  was  a  Scotchman)  from  Wales. 

In  1715,  John  Bradncr,  Hugh  Conn,  and  Robert  Orr 
were  received.  The  first,  from  Scotland,  was  licensed 
and  ordained  in  this  country,  and  settled  over  the  con- 
gregation of  Cape  May  :*  he  afterwards  removed  to 
Goshen,  N.Y.,  where  he  died.5  Conn  was  a  native  of 
Ireland,  but  sent  over  by  the  "friends  in  London,"  and 
bore  with  him  the  cheering  letter  of  Thomas  Reynolds 
to  the  Presbytery.  He  was  settled  in  Baltimore  county, 
and  became  a  member  of  the  New  Castle  Presbytery. 
Orr  was  from  Ireland  or  Scotland,  and  in  1715  accepted 
a  call  to  Maidenhead  and  Hopewell. 

Besides  these,  several  others  had  joined  the  Presby- 
tery, but  the  connection  was  transient  or  their  position 
less  important.  The  Presbytery  had  increased  to  such 
an  extent  that,  in  the  judgment  of  its  members,  a  divi- 
sion was  demanded.     The  new  Presbyteries  would  in- 

1  His  remains  lie  buried  at  the  "Head  of  Christiana,"  where  a 
marble  slab  commemorates  his  virtues. 

2  Ordained  at  Cohansey,  October  15,  1714. 

9  Rev.  Robert  Witherspoon  was  ordained  at  Appoquinimy,  now 
Drawyer's  Church  (Del.),  May  13,  1714,  and  died  in  May,  1718. 

*  Bradner  preached  first  at  Fairfield,  N.J.,  afterwards  at  Cape 
May.     These  churches  were  colonies  from  New  England. 

Mr.  Joseph  Smith  was  probably  the  first  minister  at  Cohansey, 
from  Deerfield.  Mass.  ;  and  the  tradition  is  that  that  people  brought 
their  minister  with  them.  The  colony  was  from  Fairfield,  Conn. 
Mr.  S.  was  a  member  of  Presbytery  in  1708. 

5  Riker's  Newtown. 


30  HISTORY    OF    PRESBYTERIAN1SM. 

deed  be  weak,  but  already  there  was  assurance  of  their 
rapid  growth.  There  were  quite  a  number  of  ministers 
and  churches  whose  distance  rendered  their  connection 
with  a  single  Presbytery,  central  to  Philadelphia,  un- 
advisable.  Measures  were  already  taken  to  establish 
a  Presbyterian  congregation  in  New  York.  A  church 
had  for  many  years  been  in  existence  at  Newark,  N.J., 
and  in  1709  Jonathan  Dickinson  had  been  ordained  at 
Elizabethtown  by  the  ministers  of  Fairfield  county, 
but  had  as  yet  formed  no  connection  with  Presbytery. 

On  Long  Island  quite  a  number  of  churches,  known 
sometimes  as  Presbyterian  and  sometimes  as  Independ- 
ent,1 but  formed  on  the  New  England  model,  were 
ready,  through  the  influence  of  Macnish,  who  mean- 
while had  removed  to  Jamaica,  to  be  organized  into  a 
Presbytery  by  themselves,  and  to  receive  under  their 
care  the  churches  and  ministers  that  might  be  disposed 
to  unite  with  them.  Pumroy  of  Newtown  had  already 
(1715)  united  with  the  Presbytery,  and  in  the  following 
year  a  call  from  Southampton  was  presented  to  Samuel 
Gelston,  accompanied  by  the  assurance  that  the  people 
were  ready  to  place  themselves  under  its  care. 

In  these  circumstances,  Macnish  and  Pumroy  were 
left  to  act  according  to  their  discretion,  with  regard  to 
the  formation  of  a  Presbytery  on  Long  Island.  It  was 
recommended  to  them  "  to  use  their  best  endeavors 
with  the  neighboring  brethren  that  are  settled  there, 
which  as  yet  join  not  with  us,  to  join  with  them"  in  the 
erection  of  a  Presbytery.  The  other  members  and 
churches  of  the  original  body  were  set  off  to  form  the 
three  Presbyteries  of  Philadelphia,  New  Castle,  and 
Snow  Hill. 

Thus,  in  ten  years  from  the  formation  of  the  original 

1  Nearly  aU  the  early  churches  on  Long  Island  and  in  New  Jersey 
were  colonies  from  New  England. 


THE    FIRST    PRESBYTERY.  31 

Presbytery  it  had  growD  to  a  Synod.  The  period  had 
been  one  marked  also  by  general  harmony,  as  well  as 
by  rapid  growth.  The  ministers  of  the  body  were  from 
Ireland,  Scotland,  London,  Wales,  and  New  England, 
and,  laying  aside  all  differences  of  minor  importance, 
they  had  cheerfully  and  heartily  co-operated  on  a  basis 
broad  enough  to  accommodate  them  all.  As  yet  there 
were  manifest  no  doctrinal  diversities.  All  were  Calvin- 
ists,  and  all  cheerfully  assented  to,  if  they  did  not 
prefer,  the  Presbyterian  form  of  government.  The 
laborers  in  the  Held  stood  ready  to  welcome  faith- 
ful fellow-laborers,  from  whatever  quarter  they  might 
come.  To  the  reverend  brethren  of  the  Church  of  Scot- 
land, whom,  said  they,  "we  sincerely  honor  and  affec- 
tionately esteem  as  fathers,"  they  represented  the  deso- 
late condition  of  the  vacant  places  that  had  applied  for 
ministers.  To  the  Presbytery  of  Dublin,  and  to  the 
ministers  of  London,  they  had  likewise  sent  similar 
requests,  and  with  the  ministers  of  Boston,  New  Haven, 
and  New  England,  generally,  they  were  on  the  most 
friendly  terms.  To  Connecticut  they  had  sent  ex- 
pressly  for  aid,  and  were  disappointed  to  find  that  the 
vacancies  in  that  colony  were  so  numerous  as  to  defeat 
their  expectations. 

The  necessity  of  a  specific  adoption  of  standards  by 
the  Presbytery  does  not  yet  seem  to  have  occurred. 
The  great  body  of  the  ministers,  while  they  were  yet 
few  in  number  and  drawn  together  by  the  urgent  neces- 
sitics  of  their  common  field,  were  evidently  united  in 
doctrinal  sentiment.  The  most  trying  discussions  of 
Presbytery  were  those  which  concerned  variances  be- 
tween  pastor  and  people, — as  the  case  of  Wade  at  Wood- 
bridge, — the  morals  or  the  discretion  of  the  ministers, 
as  in  the  case  of  Van  Vleck  and  Evans.  Nor,  when 
we  regard  the  intimacy  and  mutual  confidence  of  An- 
drews and  Makemie,  the  last  bequeathing  his  library  to 


32  HISTORY    OF    PRESBYTERIANISM. 

the  former,  one  from  New  England  and  the  other  sus- 
tained and  encouraged  by  the  London  ministers,  can 
we  feel  that  either  they  or  their  "  associates"  were  in 
danger  of  error  on  the  side  of  excessive  strictness. 
Their  moderation,  indeed,  was  such  that  they  were 
drawing  towards  them,  as  they  were  recommending  the 
policy  that  would  do  it,  the  Congregationalists  of  Long 
Island. 

With  Drs.  Miller  and  Hodge,  against  all  the  argu- 
ments of  Dr.  Green,  we  must  hold  to  the  strong  impro- 
bability that  the  lost  leaf  of  the  records  contained  any 
specific  standard  for  the  adoption  of  members. 


CHAPTEE  III. 

THE    SYNOD,  A.D.  1717-1729. 


Upon  the  division  of  the  original  Presbytery  and  the 
formation  of  the  Synod,  the  Long  Island  Presbytery 
commenced  its  existence.  It  met  and  was  constituted 
at  Southampton,  April  17,  1717,  and  its  first  work  was 
the  examination  and  ordination  of  Samuel  Gelston, 
whose  call  to  the  Southampton  church  had  been  ap- 
proved by  the  Presbytery  of  Philadelphia  in  the  pre- 
ceding year.  The  ministers  who  took  part  in  the  ordi- 
nation undoubtedly  composed  the  entire  Presbytery.1 
They  were  George  Macnish,  who  had  removed  to  Ja- 
maica in  1710,  Samuel  Pumroy,  who  was  settled  al 
Newtown,  and  George  Phillips,  who  for  twenty  years 
had  been  laboring  at  Setauket.  The  churches  under 
the  care  of  the  Presbytery  had,  most  of  them,  been  long 
in  existence.     Their  membership  was  largely  from  New 

1  Frimc's  Long  Island. 


THE    SYNOD,  A.D.  1717-1720.  33 

England,  and  their  forms  of  worship  and  government 
were  Congregational  or  [ndependent.  The  chnrch  at 
Southampton  was  gathered  as  early  a.->  L640,  when 
Abraham  Pierson,  afterwards  the  founder  of  the  church 

at  Newark,  was  its  pastor.  The  church  at  Setauket 
enjoyed,  as  early  as  1655,  the  labors  of  Rev.  Nathaniel 
Brewster,  a  grandson  of  Elder  Brewster  of  Mayflower 
memory.  Newtown  was  settled  by  English  emigrants 
in  1652,  and  in  1671  a  house  of  worship  was  erected. 
It  was  not  till  1724,  seven  years  after  the  erection  of 
the  Presbytery,  that  the  church  was  provided  with 
ruling  elders  and  became  distinctly  Presbyterian.1  The 
first  settlement  of  Jamaica  was  in  1656,  and  in  1663,  by 
vote  of  the  town,  a  meeting-house  was  erected.  It  was 
replaced  by  a  stone  edifice  in  1690;  but  in  1702  the 
arbitrary  authority  of  Lord  Cornburyr  wrested  it  from 
the  Presbyterians  and  placed  it  in  the  hands  of  the 
Episcopal  rector. 

But  beside  these  churches  under  the  care  of  the 
Presbytery,  there  was  quite  a  number  of  others,  com- 
posed largely  of  New  England  settlers  in  other  parts 
of  the  island.  Some  of  these,  at  a  later  period,  became 
Presbyterian.  The  one  at  Southold  was  gathered  in 
1640.  Emigrants  from  Lynn  found  their  way  to  East 
Hampton  in  1648,  and  were  prompt  in  securing  for 
themselves  the  privileges  of  public  worship.  Hunting- 
ton was  settled  from  New  England  in  1658,  and  soon 
after  a  church-edifice  was  erected.  Hempstead  enjoyed 
the  labors  of  Rev.  Richard  Denton  at  the  earliest 
period  of  its  history,  in  1644.  A  church  was  gathered 
at  Bridgehampton  in  1695,  and  at  Mattituck  in  1715. 

Thus,  at  the  period  of  the  formation  of  the  Pres- 
bytery there  were  at  least  ten  <»r  twelve  churches, 
called   indifferently   Presbyterian   or   [ndependent,  on 

1  Hiker's  Annals  of  Newtown. 


d4  HISTORY    OF    PRESBYTERIANISM 

the  island.  Several  of  them  in  the  course  of  a  few 
years  became  connected  with  that  body,  which  em- 
braced at  first  but  the  four  churches  of  Jamaica,  New- 
town, Setauket,  and  Southampton.  The  church  at 
Mattituck  came  into  connection  with  the  Presbytery 
in  1719,  and  some  of  the  others  invited  at  least  its 
counsel  and  assistance.  Only  their  own  records,  in  the 
loss  of  others,  can  show  the  precise  date  at  which  they 
became  distinctively  Presbyterian. 

Of  the  three  other  Presbyteries,  the  first  to  be  noticed 
is  that  of  Philadelphia.  It  numbered  at  its  formation 
six  ministers: — Andrews,  at  Philadelphia;  Jones,  at 
Abington;  Powell,  at  Cohansey;  Orr,  at  Maidenhead 
and  Hopewell;  Bradner,  at  Cape  May;  and  Morgan, at 
Freehold.  Of  these,  Bradner  is  said  to  have  been  from 
Scotland,  and  Orr  from  Ireland.  Jones  and  Powell  were 
Welshmen ;  Andrews  and  Morgan  were  from  New  Eng- 
land. The  missionary  field  of  this  Presbytery  was  quite 
extended,  and  there  were  several  congregations  desti- 
tute of  pastors. 

The  Presbytery  of  New  Castle  likewise  numbered 
six  ministers: — Anderson,  at  New  Castle,  Delaware; 
McGill,  at  Patuxent;  Gillespie,  at  White  Clay  Creek; 
Evans,  on  the  Welsh  Tract;  Witherspoon,at  Appoqui- 
nimy ;  and  Conn,  in  Baltimore  county,  Maryland.  Here, 
with  a  single  exception,  all  the  members  were  from 
Scotland  or  Ireland. 

The  Presbytery  of  Snow  Hill,  which  became  absorbed 
in  that  of  New  Castle,  numbered  as  members  only 
Davis,  Hampton,  and  Henry.  The  first  still  remained 
among  the  people  with  whom  he  had  so  long  been  con- 
nected without  pastoral  settlement,  yet  no  longer  ser- 
viceable in  the  pulpit.  Hampton  was  settled  at  Snow 
Hill,  and  Henry  was  Makemie's  successor  at  Eehoboth. 

Here,  at  the  commencement  of  the  existence  of 
Synod,  were  the  nineteen  ministers  of  whom  it  was 


THE    SYNOD,  A.D.  1717-1729.  85 

composed,  scattered  at  wide  distances  along  the  coasl 
from  Virginia  to  the  eastern  pari  of  Lou--  Island.  The 
demand  for  new  laborers  in  the  field  was  greater  than 
ever  before,  and  new  congregations  were  in  process  of 
formation  at  various  points.  In  New  York  and  its 
vicinity,  the  intolerance  of  Lord  Cornbury  and  the  in- 
trusion of  Episcopacy  had  discouraged  the  efforts  of 
those  who  were  now  known  as  Dissenters.  The  treat- 
ment of  Makemie  was  a  warning  to  any  from  abroad 
who  might  propose  to  follow  his  example.  Conse- 
quently, several  years  passed  before  measures  were 
taken  to  form  a  Presbyterian  congregation. 

Meanwhile,  however,  discord  had  begun  to  spread  in 
the  ranks  of  what  its  friends  were  pleased  to  call,  most 
unwarrantably,  the  Established  Church.  In  1G93,  the 
Assembly  of  the  colony,  at  the  instance  of  the  Governor, 
and  by  what  that  devoted  friend  of  Episcopacy,  Colonel 
Lewis  Morris,  denominated  his  "artifice,"  made  pro- 
vision, by  an  act,  for  the  maintenance  of  "one  good 
sufficient  Protestant  minister"  within  the  bounds  of 
each  town  in  the  province  where  the  people  should 
desire  it.  The  "  one  good  and  sufficient  Protestant 
minister,"  according  to  the  interpretation  of  Lord 
Cornbury  and  his  zealous  friends,  could  be  no  other 
than  a  clergyman  of  the  Church  of  England.  The 
congregations,  however,  were  still  entitled  to  the  choice 
of  vestrymen  and  churchwardens.  The  denial  of  this 
right  would  at  once  have  opened  the  eyes  and  excited 
the  indignation  of  the  Assembly,  who  were  almost  to  a 
man  "  Dissenters." 

And  now  the  door  was  opened  for  Episcopal  aggres- 
sion. It  began  at  Jamaica,  and  continued  there  for 
more  than  thirty  years.  Indirectly  the  whole  Epis- 
copal Chnrch  in  this  country  became  a  party.  Poyer, 
the  Jamaica  incumbent,  after  the  death  of  Orquart, 
who  had    succeeded   Hub  bell,   was   disposed,  with   the 


36  HISTORY    OF    PRESBYTERIANISM. 

encouragement  of  the  Governor,  to  prosecute  his  suit 
against  the  vestry,  who  had  called  Macnish,  and  put 
him  in  possession  of  the  parsonage.  But  there  was 
apprehension  lest  the  case  should  go  against  the  prose- 
cutor. The  judges,  for  the  most  part,  were  "  dissenters/' 
and  would  be  disposed  to  do  justice  against  Episcopal 
aggression.  The  decision  would  furnish  a  precedent, 
and  every  Episcopal  incumbent  would  be  left  at  the 
mercy  of  his  vestry  and  churchwardens.  Yesey  of 
New  York  perceived  the  danger.  He  was  a  graduate 
of  Harvard,  and  had  been  sent  by  Increase  Mather ' 
to  "  confirm  the  minds  of  those  who  had  removed  for 
their  convenience  from  New  England"  to  New  York. 
His  express  mission,  according  to  Episcopal  accounts, 
was  to  counteract  the  influence  of  the  chaplain  of  the 
forces  sent  out  from  England,  and  till  1697  he  was  "  a 
dissenting  preacher  on  Long  Island."  But  he  was 
bought  over  by  Governor  Fletcher  by  the  offer  of  the 
Eectory  of  New  York  and  a  promised  increase  of  stipend. 
From  this  time  he  was  a  zealous  Churchman ;  and,  in 
defence  of  his  own  views  of  the  interest  of  the  Church, 
he  succeeded  in  bringing  nearly  all  the  Episcopal 
clergymen  in  New  York  and  the  neighboring  provinces 
to  join  with  him  in  dissuading  Poyer  from  prosecuting 
his  suit,  and  in  sending  to  England  representations 
prejudicial  to  the  character  and  standing  of  Governor 
Hunter,  who  had  succeeded  Lord  Cornbury. 

Hence  ensued  a  breach  between  the  clergy  and  the 
Governor.  Nor  was  this  all.  To  promote  more  effec- 
tually his  designs,  Yesey  converted  his  vestry  into  a 
close  corporation,  and  adopted  measures  which  divided 
the  congregation  into  two  hostile  and  embittered 
parties.  He  did  not  hesitate  to  designate  his  op- 
ponents as   "  schismatics,"   and   by  other  opprobrious 

i  New  York  Hist.  Col.  iii.  488. 


Till:    BYN0D,  A.D.   \717-1729.  37 

titles.    Some  of  them  withdrew,  and  worshipped  in  the 
chapel  of  I  he  garrison. 

This  was  in  1714.  The  document  in  which  the  ag- 
grieved party  tell  their  story  contains  several  passages 
which  were  scored  out  of  the  original.  Among  these 
is  one  in  which  they  say,  "We  have  yet  no  dissenting 
congregation  of  English  in  the  town,  which,  we  fear, 
makes  ours  (the  separated  party)  larger  than  it  would 
be  if  there  was  one;  and  how  deplorable  a  folly  would 
it  be  to  raise  one  out  of  our  own  dissensions!" 

But  those  dissensions  were  not  without  their  in- 
fluence. The  proceedings  of  Lord  Cornbury — who 
closed  his  career  as  Governor  in  1708,  and  was  passed 
over  by  his  creditors  into  the  sheritfs  hands — had 
created  towards  him  a  strong  feeling  of  indignation  and 
disgust.  The  proceedings  of  Yesey  had  rendered  him 
unpopular  with  large  numbers  in  his  own  parish.  His 
course  in  regard  to  Poyer's  suit  had  lost  him  the  sym- 
pathy and  respect  of  the  Governor  who  had  succeeded 
Cornbury,  and  thus,  by  the  discord  in  the  ranks  of  the 
"Established  Church,"  the  hopes  of  the  Presbyterians 
were  encouraged. 

After  Makemie's  visit,  and  especially  after  the  close 
of  Cornbury's  administration,  they  met,  as  opportunity 
afforded,  in  private  dwellings.  "  They  kept  together, 
and  continued,  with  few  interruptions  and  with  a  gra- 
dual increase  of  their  number,  to  meet  for  worship 
without  a  minister,  until  the  year  1716,  when  John 
Nieoll,  Patrick  McKnight,  Gilbert  Livingston,  Thomas 
Smith,  and  a  few  others,  conceived  the  plan  of  forming 
themselves  into  a  regular  Presbyterian  church  and 
calling  a  stated  pastor."1  Measures  were  immediately 
taken  at  this  fitting  opportunity,  when  division  per- 
vaded the  Episcopal  ranks,  and  the  persecuting  power 


1  Life  of  Rodgers 
Vol..   I.— 4 


38  HISTORY    OF    PRESBYTERIANISM. 

of  the  Church  was  palsied,  to  carry  out  their  design. 
In  the  summer  of  that  year  they  extended  a  call  to 
Anderson  at  New  Castle,  in  Delaware.  The  commis- 
sion of  the  Synod,  to  whom  the  case  was  referred,  de- 
cided that  Anderson  ought  to  accept  the  call,  and  ac- 
cordingly, in  October,  1716,  he  removed  to  New  York. 

Here  he  was  favorably  received,  and  for  three  years, 
by  the  permission  of  the  authorities,  the  infant  congre- 
gation was  allowed  to  occupy  the  City  Hall  for  public 
worship.  Meanwhile  ground  was  purchased  on  Wall 
Street  as  a  site  for  a  church-edifice,  and  a  building  was 
erected  in  1719.  The  necessary  funds  were  procured 
in  part  from  friends  in  the  city,  and  in  part  from  collec- 
tions in  Connecticut  and  in  Scotland. 

In  1720  a  charter  of  incorporation  was  sought  of  the 
Governor  and  the  Council ;  but  the  opposition  of  the 
vestry  of  Trinity  Church  defeated  the  application.  The 
result  was,  that  the  fee  simple  of  the  property  was  vested 
in  Anderson  the  pastor,  and  Nicoll,  Liddle,  and  Ingliss, 
members  of  the  congregation,  and  by  them,  in  1730. 
conveyed  in  due  form  of  law  to  the  Moderator  and 
commission  of  the  General  Assembly  of  the  Church  of 
Scotland.  Until  1766,  no  further  efforts  were  made  to 
secure  a  charter. 

Anderson  was  a  man  of  talents,  learning,  and  piety, 
a  graceful  and  popular  preacher.  But  he  had  not  long 
been  settled  before  a  portion  of  his  congregation  be- 
came dissatisfied.  He  was  charged  with  a  spirit  of 
ecclesiastical  domination  and  with  improper  inter- 
ference in  the  temporal  concerns  of  the  Church. 
Livingston  and  Smith  complained  to  Synod  of  his  ser- 
mons, and,  after  hearing  them  read,  that  body  ex- 
pressed themselves  as  wishing  that  "  they  had  been  de- 
livered in  softer  and  milder  terms  in  some  passages." 
In  1721,  a  division  took  place,  and  a  distinct  society 
was  formed,  to  which  Jonathan  Edwards  preached  for 


THE    SYNOD,  A.D.  1717-1729.  39 

the  space  of  nine  months.  But  the  new  congregation 
was  boo  feeble  to  support  a  minister,  and  the  future 
author  of  the  "Inquiry  into  the  Freedom  of  the  Will" 
found  difficulties  in  his  way  which  determined  him  to 
seek  another  tield  of  labor. 

Anderson  did  not  long  continue  in  the  pastorate  at 
New  York.  In  1726  he  accepted  a  call  to  New  Donegal, 
in  Pennsylvania,  and  was  succeeded  by  Ebenezer  Pem- 
berton,  under  whose  ministry  the  old  divisions  were 
healed.  Pemberton  wTas  a  native  of  Boston,  and  a  gra- 
duate of  Harvard  College.  His  father  was  a  clergy- 
man, and  the  son,  trained  from  his  early  years  for  the 
ministry,  fulfilled  in  a  diligent,  faithful,  and  useful 
pastorate  at  New  York  the  promise  of  his  youth.  He 
was  "a  man,"  says  Smith,1  "of  polite  breeding,  pure 
morals,  and  warm  devotion."  His  labors  were  emi- 
nently successful.  He  understood  the  character  of  the 
people  he  had  to  deal  with  better  than  Anderson. 
They  were  largely  from  New  England.  "As  New 
England,"  says  Colonel  Morris,  with  a  sneer  wThich  time 
has  changed  into  eulogy,  "  was,  excepting  some  fa- 
milies, the  scum  of  the  Old,  so  the  greatest  part  of  the 
English  in  this  province  was  the  scum  of  the  New." 
But  in  Mr.  Pemberton  they  were  well  united.  For 
thirty  years  he  exercised  his  ministry,  and  had  the 
satisfaction  to  see  the  old  house  of  worship  replaced 
by  a  new  and  much  larger  edifice,  and  his  congregation 
increased  to  twelve  hundred  or  fourteen  hundred  souls. 2 

In  1717,  Jonathan  Dickinson  united  with  the  Phila- 
delphia Presbytery.  He  bad  been  ordained  at  Eliza- 
bethtown,  N.J.,  by  the  ministers  of  Fairfield  county,  in 
17*'!».  and  for  nine  years  had  labored  over  the  extensive 
field  embracing  not  only  Elizabeth  town,  but  Rahway, 
Westficld,  Connecticut  Farms,  Springfield,  and  a  part  of 

*  Hist,  of  New  York,  i   250.  *  Ibid.  260. 


40  HISTORY    OF    PRESBYTERIANISM. 

Chatham.  He  was  a  native  of  Massachusetts,  and  a 
graduate  of  Yale  College.  With  uncommon  sagacity, 
calm  judgment,  and  unshrinking  firmness, — tempered, 
however,  with  the  spirit  of  Christian  forbearance  and 
moderation, — he  was  well  qualified  to  take  a  prominent 
part  in  the  public  concerns  as  well  as  controversies  of 
the  Church.  For  nearly  forty  years  he  continued  in  the 
exercise  of  the  ministry;  and  the  incidents  of  his  life 
are  interwoven  with  the  history  of  Presbyterianism 
throughout  the  period  of  his  career.  His  intellectual 
superiority  and  commanding  influence  made  him  the 
leader  of  the  old  Synod  before  the  separation,  and  he 
was  the  acknowledged  leader  of  the  new  Synod  after 
the  division  had  taken  place. 

The  church  at  Newark,  not  yet  connected  with  the 
Presbytery,  but  under  the  care  of  the  venerable  Prud- 
den,  and  soon  destined  to  enjoy  the  pastoral  labors  of 
President  Burr,  had  already  been  in  existence  as  an 
independent  church  for  more  than  half  a  century.  It 
was  established  in  1665  by  the  elder  Pierson,  who  had 
previously  removed  from  Lynn,  Mass.,  to  Southamp- 
ton on  Long  Island,  and  thence  to  Branford,  Conn., 
where  he  had  formed  a  church.1  On  the  union  of  the 
colonies  of  New  Haven  and  Hartford,  his  opposition  to 
the  growing  laxity  of  sentiment  and  his  zeal  for  his 
own  peculiar  ecclesiastical  views  led  him,  with  a  large 
portion  of  his  charge,  to  seek  out  a  new  place  of  settle- 
ment. His  son  was  the  first  President  of  Yale  College, 
and  his  grandson  was  for  some  years  pastor  at  Wood- 
bridge,  N.J.     The   date  of  his  ordination  was  almost 

1  Mr.  Pierson  is  said  to  have  been  episcopally  ordained,  but  to 
have  been  "equally  displeased  with  the  tyranny  of  Charles  I.  both 
in  Church  and  State,  and  with  the  civil  madness  and  religious 
enthusiasm  which  prevailed  under  Cromwell,  and  that  he  annexed 
himself  to  the  party  which  were  called  Moderate  Presbyterians  " 
— McWhorter's  Hist.  Discourses.  1807. 


41 

contemporaneous  with  the  organization  of  the  Synod. 
It  took  place  April  19,  1717. 

Prom  this  period  fche  Dumber  of  ministers  and  con- 
gregations rapidly  Increased.  Moses  Dickinson,  a 
brother  of  Jonathan,  succeeded  Orr  in  Hopewell  and 
Maidenhead,  in  New  Jersey,  in  1718.  Robert  Cross, 
from  Ireland,  was  installed  at  New  Castle  in  the  fol- 
lowing year.  Joseph  Lamb,  a  graduate  of  Yale  College, 
became  pastor  of  Mattituck  in  1717,  and  in  17 1 '.»  bis 
church  united  with  the  Presbytery  of  Long  Island,  by 
which  he  had  been  ordained.  Samuel  Young,  from 
Armagh  Presbytery,  was  appointed  by  the  New  Castle 
Presbytery  to  supply  Drawyers,  in  Delaware,  and 
shortly  before  his  death,  in  1721,  took  charge  of  a 
congregation  that  had  been  recently  gathered  about 
the  branches  of  the  Elk  and  was  composed  mainly  of 
emigrants  from  Ireland.  John  Clement,  who  after- 
wards supplied  Gloucester  and  Pilesgrove,  and  William 
Steward,  who  accepted  a  call  to  Monokin  and  Wico- 
mico, were  received  in  1718. 

In  the  ten  years  that  followed,  the  membership  of 
the  Synod  was  largely  increased.  At  the  close  of  this 
period  seven  ministers  had  been  received  from  New 
England,  five  from  Scotland  or  Ireland,  three  from 
England  and  Wales,  and  several  were  licensed  by  the 
Presbyteries  in  this  country.  From  New  England 
came  Webb  of  Newark  (1720);  the  younger  Dickinson 
of  Maidenhead  and  Hopewell;  Walton  of  Crosswieks. 
whose  erratic  course  was  as  surprising  as  his  eloquence ; 
Parris  of  CobanseyjHubbellof  Westfield  and  Hanover, 
— including  the  present  congregations  of  Morristown, 
Chatham,  and  Parsippany;  Elmer  of  Fairfield  in  Co- 
hansey,  andPcniberlon  of  New  York.  From  England 
came  John  Orme,  who  settled  with  the  congregation 
of  Marlborough  on  Patuxent,  and  Robert  Lainer,  who 
supplied   Brandywine  and   White  Clay.     From  Wales 


42  HISTORY    OF    PRESBYTERIANISM. 

came  Thomas  Evans,  who  labored  at  Pencader;  Wil 
liam  McMillan  and  Adam  Boyd — the  former  sent  tc 
supply  the  people  of  Virginia,  and  the  latter  settled  at 
Octorara — were  both  ordained  in  this  country.  Boyd 
was  commended  by  Cotton  Mather,  and  both  he  and 
McMillan  were  connected  with  the  New  Castle  Pres- 
bytery. Of  the  other  ministers,  Alexander  Hutchinson 
was  sent  over  by  the  Glasgow  Presbytery  in  answer  to 
the  petition  of  the  Synod,  and  settled  at  Bohemia 
Manor  and  Broad  Creek.  Thomas  Craighead,  who 
finally  settled  at  Pequa,  was  the  son  of  an  Irish 
minister,  but  labored  for  some  time  in  New  England 
before  he  joined  the  Synod.  Cotton  Mather  loved  and 
esteemed  him.  In  a  letter  to  a  friend  he  spoke  of  him 
as  "of  an  excellent  spirit  and  a  great  blessing  to  youi 
plantation," — "  a  man  of  singular  piety,  meekness, 
humility,  and  industry  in  the  work  of  God."  Joseph 
Houston,  who  settled  at  Elk  Eiver,  was  from  Ireland, 
but  had  supplied  the  pulpit  of  Mr.  Hillhouse,  at  New 
London,  Conn.,  for  several  months  previous  to  his 
uniting  with  the  Synod.  Archibald  McCook  and  Wil- 
liam Tennent  were  likewise  from  Ireland. 

The  first  of  these  came  over  as  a  student,  and  was 
licensed  by  the  New  Castle  Presbytery.  His  field  of 
labor  was  Kent,  in  Delaware.  It  embraced  Dover1  (St. 
Jones)  and  Murthur  Kill.  Ten  years  previously,  the 
destitution  of  the  region  had  attracted  the  attention 
of  Presbytery.  Repeatedly  they  had  been  furnished 
with  temporary  supplies.  Gelston,  Cross,  Hook,  T. 
Evans,  Steward,  Hutchinson,  and  Finch  had  visited 
them;  but  McCook  became  in  1727  their  first  pastor. 

But  in  some  respects  the  most  important  name  added 
to  the  Synod's  list  during  the  ten  years  from  1719  to  1729 


1  St.  Jones  is  now  Dover,  on  Jones',  or  anciently,  St.  Jones'  Creek 
in  St.  Jones,  now  Kent  county,  Del. 


THE   Bi  NOD,  A.l>.  1717-1729.  43 

was  that  of  William  Tennent.  !Iis  influence  upon  the 
progress  and  prosperity  of  the  Church  entitles  bim  to 
a  rank  second  to  no  other.  In  Learning,  piety,  and 
the  wise  forethought  which  he  manifested  in  regard  to 

provision  for  an  educated  ministry,  he  is  entitled  to 
the  highest  honor. 

The  Synod  had  increased  during  its  career  from  1717  to 
17-0  from  about  fifteen  to  nearly  thirty  members,  and 
its  congregations  in  a  corresponding  proportion.  Its 
great  anxiety  was  to  make  provision  for  the  destitu- 
tions within  its  bounds.  One  of  its  first  measures  was 
the  establishment  of  "a  fund  for  pious  uses."  Letters 
were  written  to  London,  Lublin,  and  Glasgow,  peti- 
tioning for  aid.  The  claims  of  "many  smaller  places 
of  lesser  ability  to  maintain  and  support  the  interest 
of  Christ  among  them"  were  urgently  pressed,  and 
"  not  altogether  without  success." 

The  obligation  and  necessity  of  effort  on  its  own 
part  were,  moreover,  clearly  recognized.  A  letter  was 
addressed  to  the  several  congregations  within  the 
bounds  of  Synod,  earnestly  enforcing  the  duty  of  mak- 
ing annual  collections  in  behalf  of  the  proposed  funds. 
The  response  given  was  such  as  might  have  been  ex- 
pected in  the  feeble  state  of  the  churches.  Many  were 
unable  to  do  any  thing;  but  in  1719  the  amount  secured 
was  more  than  twenty  pounds;  and  the  judicious  ex- 
penditure of  succeeding  years  was  the  means  of  accom- 
plishing great  and  important  results.  The  congregation 
at  New  York  received  material  assistance  from  a  part 
of  the  Glasgow  collection,  and  several  feeble  churches 
or  needy  ministers  received  valuable  aid. 

To  the  Dissenting  ministers  of  London  the  Synod 
gave  in  1718  a  full  statement  of  their  condition.  They 
had  "  begun  a  small  fund,"  they  said ;  "  but  it  is  yet  so 
small  that  little  or  nothing  can  be  done  with  it."  Their 
ministers   numbered  twenty-three,  all  of  them  settled 


44  HISTORY   OP   PRESBYTERIANISM. 

or  with  prospects  of  settlement;  yet  there  were  &  till 
"  many  vacancies  which  either  cry  to  us  for  help/'  or 
give  ground  of  hope  that,  if  they  could  he  provided 
with  an  able  and  faithful  ministry,  "the  happy  effects 
of  it  would  soon  appear."  A  strong  desire  was  ex- 
pressed for  "  the  honor  and  comfort  of  a  yearly  corre- 
spondence" with  the  London  brethren,  and  help  was 
craved  "  of  all  well-disposed  Christians  everywhere, 
especially,  if  possibly  it  can  be,  of  the  city  of  London." 
The  Synod  of  Glasgow  and  Ayr,  and  Principal  Stirling, 
received  the  hearty  thanks  of  Synod  for  "  their  kind- 
ness to  the  interest  of  religion  in  these  wilderness 
parts." 

Attention  was  largely  drawn  at  each  annual  meeting 
to  the  claims  of  destitute  places  within  the  Synod's 
bounds.  McGill  was  sent  on  successive  missions,  first 
to  Potomoke,  in  Virginia,  and  subsequently  to  Kent 
county,  Delaware.  Morehead  was  employed  at  Piles- 
grove  and  Gloucester,  and  Octorara  and  Hanover  were 
aided  from  the  fund. 

To  secure  more  prompt  action,  and  to  settle  matters 
claiming  attention  during  the  intervals  of  Synod^  a 
commission  was  appointed  in  1720.  It  was  clothed 
"with  the  whole  authority  of  the  Synod,"  and  the 
management  of  the  fund  was  committed  to  its  disposal. 
It  is  natural  to  suppose  that  for  this  body  the  ablest 
members  of  the  Synod  would  be  appointed  j  and  it  con- 
sisted, in  fact,  of  Jones,  Andrews,  Macnish,  Anderson, 
Dickinson,  and  Evans.  Three  of  these  were  in  the 
vicinity  of  New  York,  where  their  services  were  most 
likely  to  be  required. 

The  troubles  in  the  Church  at  New  York  led  to  re- 
peated conferences  with  the  ministers  of  Connecticut 
and  the  trustees  of  Yale  College,  by  whom  Edwards 
had  been  sent  to  supply  the  congregation  which  had 
separated    from   Anderson's.     Each    party   seemed    in 


THE    SYNOD,  A.D     1717-1729.  45 

earnest  to  restore  peace,  and  the  Synod  expressed  their 
thanks  to  the  ( Jonnecticut  ministers  *'  for  their  concern 
about  the  interest  of  religion  in  New  York."  They 
closed  their  minute  (1728),  appointing  a  conference, 
with  a  recommendation  that,  in  ease  of  a  successful 
issue,  the  committee  should  "treat  with  said  ministers 
about  a  union  with  us,  and  empower  them  to  concert 
and  conclude  upon  any  methods  that  may  conduce  to 
that  end." 

McGill  and  Cross  were  members,  with  Andrews,  Phil- 
lips, Morgan,  and  Dickinson,  of  this  committee,  and 
McGill  and  Conn  were  appointed  to  write  the  letter  in 
reply  to  the  one  which  had  been  received  from  Con- 
necticut, requesting  the  conference.  Nothing  could 
show  more  decisively  the  absence  on  the  part  of  the 
Synod  of  all  jealousy  of  New  England  influence,  than 
this  minute  which  contains  the  recommendation  of 
union,  and  which  seems  to  have  been  adopted  without 
the  utterance  of  the  least  dissent. 

Indeed,  on  the  subject  of  ecclesiastical  authority — the 
only  point  in  reference  to  which  there  had  been,  as  yet, 
any  serious  division  of  sentiment — the  Synod  had  har- 
monized during  the  previous  year.  Against  the  measure 
of  1721,  Dickinson,  Jones,  Morgan,  Pierson,  Evans,  and 
"Webb,  had  entered  their  protest.  The  minute  to  which 
objection  was  taken,  after  stating  that  Presbyterian 
government  and  church  discipline  had  been  exercised 
for  many  years  by  the  Church  in  this  country,  "  after 
the  manner  of  the  best  Reformed  Churches,  as  far  as 
the  nature  and  constitution  of  this  country  will  allow," 
invited  any  who  desired  it  to  offer  overtures,  to  be 
formed  into  acts  by  the  Synod, u  for  the  better  carrying 
on  in  the  matter  of  our  governmenl  and  discipline." 
But  in  1722.  evidently  apon  mature  deliberation,  the 
protesting  members  consented  to  withdraw  theirprotest. 
They  submitted  a  paper,  containing   four  articles,  in 


46  HISTORY    OF    F-RESBYTERIANISM. 

which  they  grant  "  the  fall  executive  power  of  church 
government  in  Presbyteries  and  Synods,"  using  "  autho- 
ritatively in  the  name  of  Christ  the  keys  of  church  dis- 
cipline ;"  admit  that  the  circumstantials  of  church  dis- 
cipline, "  as  the  time,  place,  and  mode  of  carrying  on  in 
the  government  of  the  Church/'  belonged  to  ecclesiastical 
judicatories  to  determine  conformably  to  the  general 
rules  in  the  word  of  God,  and  that  if  these  were  called 
acts — the  term  which  the  protest  was  directly  aimed  at 
— no  offence  would  be  taken,  provided  they  were  not 
to  be  imposed  upon  those  who  conscientiously  dissented 
from  them.  They  allow  also  the  right  of  appeal  from 
inferior  to  superior  judicatories,  and  the  composing  of 
directories  by  Synods  respecting  all  parts  of  discipline, 
provided  that  subordinate  judicatories  might  decline 
from  them  when  they  thought  conscientiously  that  they 
had  just  reason  to  do  so. 

These  views,  while  guarding  against  a  rigid  and 
tyrannic  ecclesiasticism,  allowed  all  the  freedom  which 
Dickinson  and  the  brethren  who  joined  him  in  the 
protest  required;  and  it  is  to  the  honor  of  the  Synod 
that  they  were  "  so  universally  pleased  with  the  above- 
said  composure  of  their  difference,"  allowing  the  with- 
drawal both  of  the  protest  and  its  answer,  "  that  they 
unanimously  joined  together  in  a  thanksgiving  prayer, 
and  joyful  singing  the  one  hundred  and  thirty-third 
Psalm." 

Upon  the  basis  thus  offered  by  Dickinson  the  Synod 
harmonized.  With  a  clear  understanding  of  his  posi- 
tion and  sympathies,  the  Synod  proposed  measures 
which,  if  successful  in  their  results,  would  introduce 
into  it  large  numbers  of  others  whose  views  were  sub- 
stantially those  of  the  protestants;  yet  not  a  word  of 
objection  was  uttered.  The  liberal  spirit  of  American 
Presbyterianism  was  attested  by  the  unanimity  of  the 
Synod. 


THE    ADOPTING    ACT,    A.D.  1729.  47 

In  1724,  the  Synod  had  so  increased,  and  it  had  become 
so  difficult  to  secure  a  full  and  regular  attendance,  that 
the  question  was  raised  in  regard  bo  some  measure  of 
relief.  It  was  finally  decided  in  favor  of  delegation. 
The  Presbyteries  of  New  Castle  and  Philadelphia  were 
to  delegate  half  their  members  }7early  to  the  Synod, 
and  the  Presbytery  of  Long  Island  was  to  send  two  of 
their  number.  Every  third  year,  however,  there  was 
to  be  a  full  meeting  of  Synod.  At  this  meeting  all  the 
members  were  to  be  present.  The  commission  was  also 
authorized  to  call  such  a  full  meeting  whenever  the 
emergency  might  require.  Members,  whether  delegated 
or  not,  were  left  at  liberty  to  attend  as  formerly  "  if 
they  see  cause." 

In  1726,  the  attention  of  the  Synod  was  called  to  dif- 
ficulties which  had  occurred  in  the  church  at  Newark, 
of  which  Webb  was  pastor.  At  his  own  request,  a  com- 
mission was  appointed  with  a  view  to  compose  them; 
but  the  result  did  not  answer  his  expectation.  With 
Hubbell,  Jones,  and  Evans,  he  joined  in  a  protest  against 
the  measures  which  had  been  taken;  and  it  was  several 
years  before  a  full  reconciliation  took  place  between 
the  protestants  and  the  Synod. 


CIIAPTEE  IV. 

THE    ADOPTING    ACT,  A.D,  1729. 

The  year  1729  has  been  rendered  memorable  by  the 
celebrated  Adopting  Act  of  the  Synod.  It  is  difficult 
at  this  day  to  say  with  whom  the  measure  originated, 
although  the  practice  which  prevailed  in  the  New 
Castle  Presbytery — composed  largely  of  Irish  mem- 
bers— of  requiring   subscription  to  the  Confession   of 


48  HISTORY   OP    PRESBYTERIANISM. 

Faith  from  the  ministers  admitted  to  their  body,  renders 
it  not  improbable  that  it  was  first  urged  by  them.  It 
was  a  new  measure.  No  sufficient  evidence  has  yet 
been  adduced  in  proof  of  subscription,  or  the  adoption 
of  a  specific  constitution,  by  the  members  of  the  origi- 
nal Presbytery.  Indeed,  such  a  thing  was  altogether 
unknown  to  them.  In  1698,  Andrews  went  to  Philadel- 
phia; Makemie  had  already  been  in  the  country  for 
several  years;  and  yet  it  was  not  till  1698  that  the  Irish 
Synod  enacted,  in  conformity  with  the  law  of  the 
Established  Church  of  Scotland,  that  no  young  man 
should  be  licensed  to  preach  the  gospel  unless  "  he  sub- 
scribe the  Confession  of  Faith  in  all  the  articles  thereof 
as  the  confession  of  his  faith." 

Up  to  this  period  it  had  been  regarded  as  important, 
far  less  as  a  security  against  heretical  members  than  as 
a  testimony  to  the  truthful  and  scriptural  position  of  a 
body  asking  toleration  of  the  civil  magistrate.  But 
shortly  after  this,  developments  took  place  which  gave 
it  a  new  importance  in  the  eyes  of  the  Synod.1  Thomas 
Emlyn,  of  Dublin,  avowed  himself  an  Arian,  and  pub- 
lished a  defence  of  his  doctrinal  positions.  Lax  views 
had  begun  soon  after  this  to  gain  ground  among  the 
Dissenting  ministers  of  London.  To  vindicate  their 
own  character  from  the  suspicions  of  government, 
rather  than  from  any  suspicion  of  the  orthodoxy  of 
their  own  members,  the  Irish  Synod  in  1705  re-enacted 
the  law  requiring  subscription  to  the  Westminster  Con-< 
fession  of  Faith  of  all  persons  licensed  or  ordained. 
Anxious  to  secure  the  repeal  of  the  obnoxious  sacra- 
mental test,  legal  protection  for  their  worship  and 
government,  and  a  restoration  and  increase  of  the  royal 
bounty,  the  Irish  Church  felt  it  incumbent  upon  them 
to  vindicate  their  doctrinal  soundness  from  all  possible 

1  Reid's  History  of  the  Irish  Presbyterian  Church. 


TIIE   ADOPTING   ACT,  A.D.  1729.  49 

question.  But,  acknowledging  as  fchey  did  the  right  of 
the  state  to  ascertain  the  belief  of  religious  bodies 
applying  for  protection,  they  felt  it  necessary  to  declare 
their  views.  Their  choice  lay  between  the  Thirty-Nine 
Articles  of  the  Church  of  England  as  subscribed  by 
their  Dissenting  brethren  across  the  Channel,  and  the 
"Westminster  Confession  of  Faith  as  adopted  by  the 
Church  of  Scotland.  The  latter  was  preferred  in  1709, 
and  again  in  1714,  upon  the  accession  of  George  I. 

But  by  1714  a  change  had  taken  place  in  the  views 
of  some  of  the  ministers  in  and  near  Dublin.  They  had 
been  educated  among  the  English  Dissenters,  and  pre- 
ferred a  summary  of  doctrine  more  concise  than  either 
the  Thirty-Nine  Articles  or  the  Westminster  Confession. 
But  even  yet  they  professed  to  adhere  to  the  doctrines 
of  the  Confession;  and  in  the  Synod  of  1716  it  was 
decided,  with  only  a  single  dissenting  voice,  to  adhere 
to  it  as  declaring  the  faith  of  the  Church.  Only  in  case 
of , objection  on  the  part  of  government  was  the  formula 
which  had  been  drawn  up  to  be  presented  as  a  sub- 
stitute. 

It  was  while  these  discussions  were  going  forward 
that  the  seeds  of  future  danger  to  the  Church  were 
sown.  In  1703,  John  Abernethy  was  settled  at  Antrim. 
By  his  exertions  an  association  of  ministers  was  formed 
for  mutual  improvement  in  theological  knowledge.  It 
drew  into  it  some  of  the  most  promising  and  able  men 
of  the  Church,  and  was  known  as  the  Belfast  Society. 
Discussions  arose  on  the  subjects  of  religious  liberty, 
subscription  to  confessions,  the  nature  and  extent  of 
church  power,  and  opinions  were  advanced  and  main- 
tained which  tended  to  an  extreme  liberalism,  not  to 
say  radicalism.1 

It  was  not  long  before  other  ministers  of  the  Church 


1  Reid'a  History  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  of  Ireland. 
Vol.  I.— 5 


50  HISTORY    OF    PliESBYTERIANISM. 

took  the  alarm.  The  danger  was  aggravated  in  their 
estimate  by  reports  from  abroad.  The  Presbyterian 
churches  of  Switzerland  had  extensively  fallen  away 
from  the  vital  doctrines  of  the  gospel.  The  writings 
of  Whiston,  Clarke,  and  Hoadly,  in  England,  followed 
by  the  debates  and  publications  of  the  Dissenters  at 
Salter's  Hall,  showed  that  in  London  all  was  not  sound 
even  among  those  who  bore  the  honored  names  of  a 
Puritan  ancestry.  In  Scotland,  moreover,  the  seeds  of 
unsound  doctrine  had  been  widely  sown.  In  1714-16, 
Professor  Simpson,  who  occupied  the  divinity-chair  in  the 
University  of  Glasgow,  and  under  whom  not  a  few  of 
the  Irish  as  well  as  Scottish  ministers  had  been  trained, 
had  been  tried  by  the  General  Assembly  for  teaching 
Arminian  and  Pelagian  errors ;  and  the  leniency  of  the 
sentence  declared  the  extent  to  which  he  was  shielded 
by  the  sympathy  of  the  Assembly's  members.  Aber- 
nethy  himself,  and  another  prominent  member  of  the 
Belfast  Society,  had  been  Simpson's  fellow-students, 
while  others  had  been  his  theological  pupils.  "With  the 
Belfast  Society,  moreover,  the  Dublin  ministers,  who 
were  in  all  essential  points  Independents,  were  in 
strong  sympathy. 

In  these  circumstances,  while  there  was  real  danger 
to  the  Church,  it  is  not  strange  that  it  should  have  been 
vastly  magnified  by  the  fears  and  apprehensions  of 
those  who  had  taken  the  alarm.  "  There  is  a  perfect 
Hoadly  mania  among  our  young  ministers  in  the 
North/'  wrote  Francis — afterward  Professor — Hutchi- 
son from  Armagh,  in  1718,  to  a  friend  in  Scotland.  He 
ascribed  this  antipathy  to  confessions  to  "  other  grounds 
than  a  new  spirit  of  charity."  ]t  was  his  conviction 
that  Dr.  Clarke's  book  had  shaken,  if  not  changed,  the 
views  of  several. 

It  was  in  1720  that  Aberncthy  ventured  to  publish  a 
sermon  on  "  Religious  obedience  founded  on  personal 


THE    ADOPTING    ACT.  A. I).  1/29.  51 

persuasion."  It  was  objectionable  on  several  grounds; 
but  its  most  fatal  error  was  that  all  doctrines  were  non- 
essential on  which  "  human  reason  and  Christian  sin- 
cerity permitted  men  to  differ."  This  was  opening  a 
wide  door  for  error.  It  set  aside  at  once  not  only  the 
subscription  that  had  been  required,  but  all  checks  upon 
the  admission  of  unconverted  men  to  the  Church  and 
ministry.  The  practice  of  some  of  the  Presbyteries 
was  correspondingly  lax.  It  was  justly  feared  that  the 
fruits  of  the  seed  already  sown  would  be  a  harvest  of 
errors  more  objectionable  than  any  thing  which  had 
yet  appeared.  A  war  of  pamphlets  followed.  It  was 
impossible  to  guard  the  purity  or  peace  of  the  Church 
if  the  principles  of  the  Belfast  Society  were  to  be  gene- 
rally adopted.  The  Dissenters  of  London  were  many 
of  them  already  fast  verging  toward  Arianism.  The 
Dublin  ministers  did  not  come  far  behind  them,  and  the 
principles  of  Abernethy  and  his  friends  were  such  that 
they  might  claim  to  be  left  unmolested  even  if  they 
chose  to  take  the  same  position. 

In  these  circumstances,  the  Synod  felt  called  upon  to 
act.  They  compromised  with  the  Belfast  brethren  to 
preserve  unity,  but  only  divided  their  own  councils.  It 
was  a  great  mistake,  and  they  found  it  so  at  last. 
Instead  of  a  simple  enforcement  through  legitimate 
authority  of  the  discipline  of  the  Church,  they  sacrificed 
that  discipline  to  prevent  the  threatened  danger.  Peace 
was  not  secured.  The  breach  between  the  subscribers 
and  non-subscribers  was  only  widened.  Yet  the  mode- 
rate portion  of  the  party  who  favored  subscription  did 
their  best  to  prevent  any  division.  The  sermon  before 
the  Synod  of  1720  by  Robert  Craighead,  the  last  mode- 
rator, was  entitled  "A  Plea  for  Peace,  or  the  nature, 
causes,  mischiefs,  and  remedy  of  church  divisions." 
But  it  failed  to  secure  the  object  designed.  At  length 
the  reproach  of  departing  from  her  own  standards  was 


52  HISTORY    OP    PRESBYTERIANISM. 

publicly  brought  against  the  Irish  Church.  It  was 
loudly  echoed  by  the  Episcopalians.  It  was  obvious  that 
something  must  be  done.  To  remove  the  scandal,  and 
at  the  same  time  to  obviate  the  scruples  of  the  non- 
subscribers,  it  was  resolved  that  the  members  of  the 
Synod  be  permitted  to  subscribe  the  Confession.  But  to 
this,  also,  the  non-subscribers  objected.  They  were 
called  at  length  in  1726  to  propose  their  own  terms. 
They  were  such  as  it  would  have  been  suicidal  in  the 
Synod  to  accept.  The  subscribers,  therefore,  who  were 
in  the  decided  majority,  introduced  an  overture  declar- 
ing their  rejection  of  the  new  terms  of  peace,  and  that 
the  adherence  of  the  non-subscribers  to  their  principles 
"  put  it  out  of  their  power  to  maintain  ministerial  com- 
munion with  them  in  church  judicatories  as  formerly, 
consistent  with  the  discharge  of  our  ministerial  office 
and  the  peace  of  our  own  consciences."  The  overture 
was  passed  by  a  great  majority,  and  the  separation, 
wThich  had  become  inevitable,  immediately  followed. 

The  conflict  had  been  a  fierce  one,  and  disastrous  to 
the  interests  of  the  Church.  But  it  was  rendered 
necessary  by  the  dangerous  and  latitudinarian  princi- 
ples as  well  as  errors  of  the  non-subscribers.  Yet  the 
party  that  opposed  them  had  been  moderate  and  for- 
bearing. They  erred  rather  on  the  side  of  leniency 
than  of  harshness. 

Of  this  conflict  the  American  Presbyterian  Church 
could  not  remain  a  disinterested  spectator.  During 
the  whole  period  of  it,  the  Irish  emigration  to  this 
country  was  large,  and  it  was  steadily  increasing.  It 
was  scarcely  to  be  doubted  that  some  of  the  non-sub- 
scribers, whose  principles  were  not  altogether  popular 
in  the  Irish  Church,  would  soon  be  directing  their 
course  also  to  the  Western  world.  They  would  natu- 
rally seek  a  connection  with  the  Presbyterian  Church 
in   this   country,  and  such  a  connection  would   only 


THE   ADOPTING    ACT,  A.D.  1729.  53 

renew  among  the  weak  churches  scattered  through 
the  cronies  the  agitations  that  had  done  such  mischiefs 
in  Ireland. 

The  character  of  the  Church  in  this  country  was, 
moreover,  at  stake.  It  needed  the  sympathy  of  the 
foreign  Churches  that  were  yet  sound  in  the  faith,  and 
still  it  would  be  sure  to  forfeit  that  sympathy  if  it 
showed  an  indisposition  to  exclude  error.  The  Pres- 
bytery of  Now  Castle  was  undoubtedly  most  deeply 
sensible  of  this.  Thomas  Craighead  was  one  of  its 
leading  members,  and  he  would  naturally  share  the 
views  of  his  brother,  the  moderator  of  the  Irish  Synod. 
It  is  not  surprising  that  their  sagacity  should  have  led 
them  to  take  precautions  against  the  threatened  evil. 
These  precautions  were  first  used  in  the  Presbytery  of 
New  Castle,  and  afterward  commended  themselves  to 
the  good  sense  of  the  Synod. 

Yet  the  thing  was  not  done  in  haste.  The  separa- 
tion of  the  Irish  Synod  took  place  in  1726.  Three 
years  passed  before  the  Adopting  Act  of  the  American 
Synod,  and  this  act  was  framed  in  the  very  spirit  of 
the  sermon  of  Robert  Craighead's  "  Plea  for  Peace" 
before  the  Irish  Synod.  It  showed  nothing  of  the 
rigor  of  a  fierce  orthodoxy,  but  a  sound  attachment 
to  acknowledged  standards. 

At  first,  indeed,  the  proposal  of  it  threatened  division. 
In  1727,  the  year  following  the  action  of  the  Irish  Synod 
which  led  to  the  separation  of  the  Belfast  party,  an 
overture  looking  toward  the  adoption  of  such  a  mea- 
sure was  presented  to  the  Synod  by  John  Thomson,  of 
Lewes,  Delaware.  It  was  then  opposed,  especially  by 
the  New  England  members.  Even  Andrews  objected 
to  it  as  impolitic  and  tending  to  division;  while  Dickin- 
son, of  Elizabethtown,  sound  indeed  in  the  doctrines 
of  the  Confession,  was.  Btrangely  enough,  altogether 


54  HISTORY    OF    PRESBYTERIANISM. 

opposed  to  creeds  or  confessions  of  faith  drawn  up  by 
uninspired  men. 

For  two  years  the  overture  was  not  acted  upon.  It 
was  opposed  in  1727,  and  "  staved  off"  by  those  who 
hoped  "  they  should  have  heard  no  more  of  it."1  But 
as  the  facts  came  to  be  better  known,  and  the  object 
of  the  overture  to  be  better  understood,  the  measure 
gained  favor  among  its  opponents.  Unable  to  go  with 
the  Scotch  and  Irish  "  in  all  their  disciplinary  and 
legislative  notions,"  the  party  composed  of  those  from 
New  England,  England,  and  Wales  had  at  first  strong 
suspicion  of  the  tendency  and  design  of  the  overture. 
Almost  to  a  man  they  regarded  it  with  aversion.  The 
proposal  that  all  ministers  or  intrants  should  sign  it, 
or  else  be  disowned  as  members,  was  especially  ob- 
noxious. It  threatened  the  introduction  of  a  system 
of  church  discipline  and  church  legislation  such  as  in 
the  days  of  Cromwell  had  lost  England  to  the  Presby- 
terian Church,  and  gave  occasion  for  Milton's  celebrated 
saying  that  " presbyter  was  only  priest  writ  large." 

In  1728,  the  subject  was  again  introduced.  A  dele- 
gated Synod  met  this  year,  and  the  Irish  and  Scotch 
members  were  in  the  proportion,  to  the  others,  of  two 
to  one.  They  could,  if  resolutely  bent  upon  carrying 
their  measure  at  all  hazards,  have  forced  it  through. 
But  "  the  Synod,  judging  this  to  be  a  very  important 
affair,  unanimously  concluded  to  defer  the  consideration 
of  it  till  the  next  Synod,"  which  it  was  agreed  should 
be  a  full  one.  The  adoption  of  this  course  showed  a 
conciliatory  spirit,  and  gave  Dickinson,  Andrews,  Pier- 
son,  Pumroy,  and  Morgan,  an  opportunity  to  consult 
and  determine  how  far  it  was  best  to  go. 

In  1729,  the  committee  to  whom  the  subject  was 
referred  was  judiciously  chosen.      It  consisted  of  An- 


1  Andrews's  Letter  to  Colman. 


THE    ADOPTING    ACT,  A.D.  1729.  55 

drews,  Dickinson,  and  Pierson,  on  one  side,  and  Thom- 
son, the  author  of  the  overture,  Craighead,  and  Ander- 
son, on  the  other.  Craighead  waa  unquestionably 
moderate  in  his  views,  and  Conn,  who  was  also  on  the 
committee,  was  scarcely  to  be  reckoned  on  either  sido. 
The  result  was  a  compromise,  honorable  to  both  parties, 
and  evidently  betraying  the  strong  influence  of  the 
New  England,  English,  and  Welsh  members.  After 
long  discussion,  it  was  presented,  in  the  following 
words : — 

"Although  the  Synod  do  not  claim  or  pretend  to  any 
authority  of  imposing  our  faith  upon  other  men's  con- 
sciences, but  do  profess  our  just  dissatisfaction  with, 
and  abhorrence  of,  such  impositions,  and  do  utterly 
disclaim  all  legislative  power  and  authority  in  the 
Church,  being  willing  to  receive  one  another  as  Christ 
has  received  us  to  the  glory  of  God,  and  admit  to  fel- 
lowship in  sacred  ordinances  all  such  as  we  have  ground 
to  believe  Christ  will  at  last  admit  to  the  Kingdom  of 
Heaven ;  yet  we  are  undoubtedly  obliged  to  take  care 
that  the  faith  once  delivered  to  the  saints  be  kept  pure 
and  uncorrupt  among  us  and  so  handed  down  to  our 
posterity.  And  do,  therefore,  agree  that  all  the  minis- 
ters of  this  Synod,  or  that  shall  hereafter  be  admitted 
into  this  Synod,  shall  declare  their  agreement  in,  and 
approbation  of,  the  Confession  of  Faith,  with  the  Larger 
and  Shorter  Catechisms  of  the  Assembly  of  Divines  at 
Westminster,  as  being  in  all  the  essential  and  necessary 
articles  good  forms  of  sound  words  and  systems  of 
Christian  doctrine,  and  do  also  adopt  the  said  Confes- 
sion and  Catechisms  as  the  Confession  of  our  faith. 
And  we  do  also  agree  that  all  the  Presbyteries  within 
our  bounds  shall  always  take  care  not  to  admit  any 
candidate  of  the  ministry  into  the  exercise  of  the 
sacred  functions,  but  what  declares  his  agreement  in 
opinion  with  all  the  essential  and  necessary  articles  of 


56  HISTORY    OF    TRESBYTERIANISM. 

said  Confession,  either  by  subscribing  the  said  Confes- 
sion of  Faith  and  Catechism,  or  by  a  verbal  declaration 
of  their  assent  thereto,  as  such  minister  or  candidate 
shall  think  best.  And  in  case  any  minister  of  this 
Synod,  or  any  candidate  for  the  ministry,  shall  have 
any  scruple  with  respect  to  any  article  or  articles  of 
said  Confession  or  Catechisms,  he  shall,  at  the  time  of 
his  making  said  declaration,  declare  his  sentiments  to 
the  Presbytery  or  Synod,  who  shall,  notwithstanding, 
admit  him  to  the  exercise  of  the  ministry  within  our 
bounds,  and  to  ministerial  communion,  if  the  Synod  or 
Presbytery  shall  judge  his  scruple  or  mistake  to  be  only 
about  articles  not  essential  and  necessary  in  doctrine, 
worship,  or  government.  But  if  the  Synod  or  Presby- 
tery shall  judge  such  ministers  or  candidates  erroneous 
in  essential  and  necessary  articles  of  faith,  the  Synod 
or  Presbytery  shall  declare  them  uncapable  of  commu- 
nion with  them.  And  the  Synod  do  solemnly  agr^e 
that  none  of  us  will  traduce  or  use  any  opprobrious 
terms  of  those  that  differ  from  us  in  these  extra-essen- 
tial and  not-necessary  points  of  doctrine,  but  treat  them 
with  the  same  friendship,  kindness,  and  brotherly  love, 
as  if  they  had  not  differed  from  us  in  such  senti- 
ments. " 

The  ministers  of  the  Synod  then  present,  with  the 
exception  of  Mr.  Elmer, who  declared  himself  not  pre- 
pared, after  proposing  all  the  scruples  that  any  of  them 
had  against  any  articles  and  expressions  in  the  Confes- 
sion and  Catechisms,  unanimously  agreed  in  the  solu- 
tion of  those  scruples,  and  in  declaring  the  Confession 
and  Catechisms  to  be  their  confession  of  faith.  The 
only  exception  made  was  to  those  articles  of  the  Form 
of  Government  which  related  to  the  duties  of  the  civil 
magistrate.  In  view  of  the  unanimity,  peace,  and  unity 
which  appeared  in  these  consultations  and  deliberations 


THE    ADOPTING    ACT,  A.D.  1729.  57 

of  the  Synod,  they  "  unanimously  agreed  in  giving  thanks 
to  God  in  solemn  prayer  and  praises."1 

.No  change  was  subsequently  made  in  the  language 
of  the  Adopting  Act.  Some  of  those  who  were  more 
strict  on  subjects  of  ecclesiastical  order,  and  who  felt 
that  they  had  reason  to  complain  of  their  brethren  on 
account  of  its  violation,  insisted  upon  a  more  literal  and 
rigid  interpretation  of  the  agreement  which  had  been 
made  obligatory.  But  the  history  of  the  period  shows 
that  this  arose  not  from  any  superior  attachment  to 
sound  doctrine,  but  mainly  from  the  conviction  that  the 
rules  of  order  were  not  observed  with  sufficient  care 
and  fidelity. 

The  attempt  was  indeed  made,  in  1736,  to  put  a  con- 
struction upon  the  Adopting  Act  which  it  would  not 
bear.  The  Irish  and  Scotch  immigration  of  the  period 
had  been  unusually  large,  and  in  this  year  the  foreign 
members  of  the   Synod  composed  the  large  majority. 

1  There  are  many  facts  which  put  the  character  of  the  Adopting 
Act,  as  a  compromise  measure,  entirely  beyond  question.  Dr.  Green 
was  right  in  his  judgment  of  it.  It  does  present  those  features 
which  could  afford  him  occasion  to  say  that  it  gave  and  took,  bound 
and  loosed,  in  the  same  breath.  In  the  mention  made  in  Dr.  Alex- 
ander's Life  of  a  Mr.  Hoge,  a  very  aged  man  who  could  remember 
the  period  of  the  Adopting  Act,  we  find  it  very  correctly  spoken  of 
as  the  Act  "which  indulged  such  persons  as  were  scrupulous  in 
regard  to  certain  articles,  to  express  their  exceptions  before  the 
Presbytery,  who  were  permitted  to  license  and  ordain  if  they  judged 
the  matter  not  to  be  of  essential  importance.  When  the  Act  was 
passed,  it  gave  great  dissatisfaction,  and  some,  the  number  of  whom 
cannot  be  determined,  left  the  Presbyterian  Clmrch  and  joined  the 
Seceders,  who  were  then  beginning  to  raise  their  standard.  Among 
these  was  Mr.  Hoge." 

The  explanation  of  the  plan  of  subscription  given  by  Samuel 
Davies  on  his  visit  to  England,  and  to  which  reference  will  be  made 
hereafter,  sufficiently  establishes  the  understanding  of  the  Synod 
as  to  the  significance  of  the  Adopting  Act. 


58  HISTORY    OF    PRESBYTERIANISM. 

Taking  occasion  from  some  complaints  that  bad  been 
uttered  in  regard  to  the  mode  in  which  the  Confes- 
sion bad  been  adopted,  they  proceed  to  declare,  for  tbe 
satisfaction  of  such  complaints,  "  that  the  Synod  have 
adopted  and  do  still  adhere  to  the  Westminster  Confes- 
sion, Catechisms,  and  Directory,  without  the  least  variation 
or  alteration,  and  without  any  regard  to  said  distinctions" — 
these  "  distinctions  "  the  scruples  expressed  at  the  time 
of  the  adoption.  This  action  was  taken  under  the  strong 
pressure  of  popular  prejudice,  and  when  less  than  half  the 
ministers  of  the  Synod  were  present.  Among  those  absent 
were  Dickinson,  Pierson,  Pemberton,  AVebb,  etc.,  by  whom 
this  "explication"  was  subsequently  set  aside,  and  who  for 
the  time  may  have  acquiesced  in  it  as  a  declaration  which 
made  no  change  in  the  Adopting  Act  itself,  but  simply 
asserted  the  manner  in  which  the  members  of  Synod  then 
present  chose  to  define  their  own  position. 


CHAPTEE  V. 

THE  SYNOD  FROM  THE  ADOPTING  ACT  TO  THE  DIVISION. 

From  the  date  of  the  Adopting  Act  in  1729  until  the 
division  of  the  Synod  in  1741,  the  number  of  ministers 
rapidly  increased.  Nearly  forty  names  were  added  to 
the  list  of  members.  Some  few  of  these  had  been 
trained  up  wTithin  the  bounds  of  the  Church,  but,  apart 
from  these,  nearly  one-half  were  Irish  or  Scotch  immi- 
grants. The  accession  from  New  England  was  only" 
ten.  Thus,  in  the  measures  of  the  Synod,  the  foreign 
party,  had  they  been  united,  might  have  secured  a  pre- 
ponderating influence.  But  they  were  not  united.  The 
division  of  1741  originated  in  their  ranks. 

Although  originally  from  Ireland,  the  Tennents  were 


ADOPTING    ACT    TO    DIVISION.  59 

not  to  be  numbered  on  what  came  to  be  known  at  the 
time  of  the  division  as  the  Old  Side.  Of  these,  besides 
the  father,  William  Tennent.  there  were  his  sons,  John, 
Gilbert,  William,  and  Charles,  all  of  them  earnest  and 
zealous  preachers.  Gilbert  was  by  far  the  most  con- 
spicuous, and  in  the  history  of  the  period  under  re- 
view, no  other  name  is  more  frequently  mentioned. 
With  a  nature  incapable  of  fear,  a  burning  zeal  in  de- 
fence of  what  he  deemed  to  be  truth,  a  commanding 
person  and  powerful  delivery,  he  was  destined  to  exer- 
eise,  wherever  he  went,  a  deep  and  extensive  influence. 
Yet  his  charity  was  sometimes  overborne  by  his  zeal. 
His  defence  of  vital  truth  assumed,  unconsciously,  a 
defiant  tone.  In  dealing  with  his  equals  he  was  be- 
trayed into  adopting  the  tone  of  a  superior,  and  the 
model  which  he  seemed  to  favor  was  far  more  that 
which  presented  to  viewx  the  sternness  of  one  of  the  old 
prophets,  than  the  gentleness  of  the  beloved  apostle. 

He  was  independent  and  decided  in  his  judgments ; 
tenacious  of  his  convictions,  he  was  not  easily  to  be 
moved  or  persuaded  by  others.  Yet,  unfortunately,  he 
was  by  no  means  always  discreet.  Soon  after  his  licen- 
sure, he  was  called  to  New  Castle.  He  declared  his  ac- 
ceptance, commenced  preaching,  but  soon  after  abruptly 
left.  The  Synod  pronounced  his  conduct  hasty  and  un- 
advised. A  sharp  rebuke  was  administered,  which  he 
is  said  to  have  taken  meekly. 

He  soon  settled  at  New  Brunswick.  A  letter  of  the 
venerable  Frelinghuysen,  and  a  severe  fit  of  sickness, 
combined  with  the  seeming  barrenness  of  a  ministry 
of  eighteen  months,  humbled  him  under  the  sense  of 
his  unprofitableness.  He  rose  from  his  sick  bed  to 
preach  as  he  never  had  before,  and  the  fruits  of  his 
labors  were  soon  apparent. 

In  1734,  he  overt ured  the  Synod  on  the  subject  of  a 
more  careful  examination  of  candidates  for  the  minis- 


60  HISTORY   OF   PRESBYTERIANISM. 

try,  as  well  as  for  the  Lord's  Supper.  He  insisted  that 
there  should  be  a  closer  scrutiny  as  to  the  evidences  of 
a  gracious  and  genuine  religious  experience.  The  over- 
ture was  favorably  received,  and  Tennent  himself  could 
scarcely  have  penned  any  admonition  more  solemn  or 
searching  than  that  adopted  by  the  Synod.  Indeed,  it 
may  have  been  substantially  his  own  production. 

In  1736,  David  Cowell  was  settled  at  Trenton.1  He 
was  a  native  of  Massachusetts,  and  a  graduate  of  Har- 
vard. His  examination  and  installation  were  conducted 
by  a  committee  of  the  Presbytery  of  Philadelphia,  con- 
sisting of  Andrews,  Evans,  Wales,  and  Treat.  William 
Tennent  was  appointed,  but  did  not  meet  with  them. 
The  examination  of  the  candidate  brought  out  unques- 
tionably his  peculiar  views,  represented  by  his  oppo- 
nents as  making  happiness  the  chief  motive  of  religion. 
Gilbert  Tennent  could  not  endure  this.  He  corre- 
sponded with  Cowell,  but  remained  still  unsatisfied. 
The  discussion  was  continued  for  several  months,  and 
in  1738  was  brought  by  Tennent  to  the  notice  of  Synod. 
A  committee  was  appointed  to  consider  the  matter,  but 
their  report  was  deferred  from  time  to  time,  until  in  the 
following  year  they  brought  in  a  report  declaring  the 
substantial  agreement  of  the  parties,  prefacing  it  with 
the  caustic  expression  of  their  conviction  that  the  prin- 
cipal controversy  "  flows  from  their  not  having  clear 
ideas  about  the  subject  they  so  earnestly  debate  about, 
and  not  from  any  dangerous  errors  they  entertain. " 

Tennent  seemed  at  the  time  to  acquiesce ;  but  in  the 
reading  of  the  minutes  in  the  following  year,  he  took 
occasion  to  declare  his  dissatisfaction,  and  asked  that 
the  subject  be  reconsidered.  It  was  refused  by  a  strong 
majority.  This  was  somewhat  exasperating j  and  he 
did  not  hesitate  to  allude  subsequently,  in  the  harshest 

•  *  See  Hall's  "Church  of  Trenton,"  p.  80;  also  Synod's  Minutes. 


ADOPTING    ACT    TO    DIVISION.  61 

terms,  to  the  heretical  standing  of  many  of  the  Synod 
on  the  points  of  controversy.  His  zeal  was  inflamed 
by  other  causes  also.  He  6aw  with  deep  anxiety  the 
coldness  and  irreligion  which  prevailed  around  him. 
Not  a  few  of  the  ministers  were  far  from  exhibiting 
that  fidelity  and  devotion  which  pertained  to  their 
solemn  office.  The  report  of  revivals  in  New  England 
had  kindled  his  feelings  to  enthusiasm.  The  presence 
and  preaching  of  Whitetield,  who  had  just  crossed  the 
ocean,  and  whose  early  failing  of  judging  ungraciously 
the  gracious  state  of  his  brethren  had  not  yet  been 
checked,  encouraged  Tennent  in  his  course. 

But  previous  to  this  the  Synod  had  taken  action 
which  he  interpreted  as  designed  to  injure  his  father's 
school  at  Neshaminy.  Candidates  for  the  ministry 
were  to  be  examined  by  the  Synod's  committee,  and  of 
course  to  this  examination  the  Presbyteries,  as  well  as 
candidates,  must  submit.  This  was  a  sore  grievance, 
and  was  one  of  the  disturbing  influences  that  contri- 
buted to  the  division  of  the  Synod. 

The  leading  opponent  of  Tennent  and  his  fellow- 
protesters  in  the  Synod  was  Robert  Cross,  originally 
from  Ireland.  He  had  succeeded  Macnish  at  Jamaica 
in  1723,  and  in  1737  joined  the  Philadelphia  Presby- 
tery and  was  settled  as  a  colleague  of  Andrews.  He 
was  highly  respected  and  esteemed  both  for  character 
and  ability.  At  Jamaica,  "his  people  almost  adored 
him,  and  impoverished  themselves  to  equal  the  sum 
offered  him  in  the  city."  But  on  his  removal  to  Phila- 
delphia he  became  a  leading  man  in  the  Synod;  and 
his  views  of  the  revival  which  had  begun  to  prevail  in 
several  quarters  were  very  different  from  those  of 
Tennent.  Whitetield  was  by  no  means  his  favorite. 
When  he  preached  in  Philadelphia,  he  came  under 
Cross's  definition  of  an  itinerant  ;  and  for  two  or  three 
years  the  Synod  had  been  growing  more  decided  in  its 

Vol.  I.— 6 


62  HISTORY    OF    PRESBYTERIANISM. 

aversion  to  intrusions  not  warranted  by  the  permission 
of  Presbytery.  Cross  was  obnoxious  to  many  for  his 
well-known  views  on  the  subject.  He  did  not  preach 
— it  Avas  said — so  as  to  alarm  the  conscience.  He  had 
"preached  most  of  his  people  away  from  him,"  said 
"Whitefield,  in  1740.  "  He  lashed  me  most  bravely  the 
Sunday  before  I  came  away."  And  yet,  subsequently, 
when  the  snow  rendered  it  impracticable  to  use  the 
roofless  "  Great  House,"  he  offered  his  meeting-house  to 
Whitefield ;  and  it  was  accepted.  Such  was  the  man 
who  was  destined  to  take  the  leadership  of  the  Old 
Side  in  the  protest  which  brought  about  the  division. 

Of  those  who  sympathized  most  deeply  with  Tennent, 
Samuel  Blair  deserves  prominent  mention.  He  was  a 
native  of  Ireland,  but  came  to  this  country  in  his 
childhood.  From  his  early  years  his  life  had  been  most 
exemplary.  "  He  grew  in  stature  and  in  grace."  He 
had  studied  at  the  Log  College,1  and  became  eminent 
for  his  attainments.  In  1733,  he  Was  licensed  by  the 
Philadelphia  Presbytery,  and,  after  preaching  for  some 
years  at  Middletown  and  Shrewsbury,  became  pastor 
at  Fagg's  Manor  in  1740.  The  place  had  been  settled 
by  Irish  emigrants  ten  years  previously,  and  Blair, 
^vith  the  exception  of  "  some  hopefully  pious  people," 
found  religion  ready  to  expire.  Under  his  labors  a 
powerful  revival  commenced. 

One  who  assisted  him,  and  whose  sympathies  like- 
wise were  on  the  side  of  Tennent,  was  Alexander 
Craighead  of  Middle  Octorara.  He  was  probably  a 
son  of  Thomas  Craighead  already  mentioned,  and 
commenced  his  ministry  in  1735.  None  were  more 
zealous  in  promoting  the  revival.  In  company  with 
"Whitefield,  Tennent,  and  Blair,  he  traversed  Chester 
county,  and  "  they  made  the  woods  ring,  as  they  rode, 

1  See  Alexander's  "Log  College." 


ADOPTING    ACT    TO    DIVISION.  63 

with  their  songs  of  praise."  He  preached,  without  re- 
gard to  the  wishes  of  his  brethren,  and  against    the 

rule  of  the  Synod,  wherever  opportunity  ottered.  lie 
claimed  that  ministers  should  not  be  confined  within 
the  bounds  of  a  single  congregation,  and  in  harsh  terms 
he  inveighed  against  the  judicial  blindness  and  hard- 
ness of  "Pharisee  preachers."  His  zeal  soon  carried 
him  away;  and,  though  dividing  with  Tennent  and 
Blair,  he  soon  disowned  them,  because  they  would  not 
come  into  his  views  for  adopting  the  Solemn  League 
and  ( 'ovenant. 

In  John  Cross,  another  friend  of  "the  Revival," 
Tennent  was  equally  unfortunate.  He  was  a  "  Scottish 
worthy,"  and  his  place  of  settlement  was  "the  moun- 
tains back  of  Newark."1  In  1734-35,  there  was  a 
powerful  revival  in  his  congregation.  He  accompanied 
Whitefield  and  Tennent  on  their  preaching-tours,  and 
was  remarkably  distinguished  for  his  fervor  and  suc- 
cess. "  He  is  a  dear  soul,"  said  Whitefield,  "  and  one 
that  the  Lord  delights  to  honor."  At  a  later  period, 
grave  charges  were  substantiated  against  him.  "  His 
dreadful  scandals  came  to  light  in  the  midst  of  the 
revival."  This,  however,  was  not  till  after  the  divi- 
sion. 

Eleazar  Wales  was  from  New  England,  a  graduate 
of  Yale,  in  1727,  and  settled  at  Allentown,  N.J.,  in 
1730.  He  afterwards  removed  to  Crosswicks,  and 
finally  to  Millstone,  in  1735,  where  he  became,  with 
Tennent,  a  member  of  New  Brunswick  Presbytery. 

Richard  Treat  was  likewise  from  New  England,  and 
a  graduate  of  Yale.  He  settled  at  Abington  in  1731, 
and  for  several  years  acted  with  the  majority  of  the 
Synod.     But  in  1739,  on  hearing  Whitefield,  he  aban- 

1  He  was  settled  at  Baskingridge,  according  to  Hoyt's  Church 
of  Orange. 


64  HISTORY    OF    PRESBYTERIANISM. 

doned  his  former  hope,  and  from  that  period  preached 
with  new  fervor. 

Besides  these  men,  who  firmly  adhered  to  Gilbert 
Tennent  at  the  time  of  the  division,  were  his  father 
and  his  two  brothers  William  and  Charles.  William 
was  a  powerful  preacher,  and  his  sermons,  though  un- 
polished in  diction,  were  remarkably  impressive.  As 
a  revivalist  he  was  scarce  inferior  to  his  brother  Gil- 
bert, while  he  seems  to  have  been  more  discreet  and 
far  more  disposed  to  peace.  Charles  was  settled  at 
White  Clay  and  Christiana  Village  in  1737. 

The  great  majority  of  the  Irish  members  of  the  Synod, 
except  Blair  and  the  Tennents,  sided  with  Cross,  of 
Philadelphia,  in  signing  the  Protest  which  caused  the 
division.  Andrews,  of  whom  he  was  the  colleague,  was 
evidently  swayed  by  his  influence,  yet  did  not  join  in 
the  Protest.  Cathcart,  at  Brandywine;  John  Thomson, 
the  originator  of  the  overture  which  resulted  in  the 
Adopting  Act;  Francis  Alison,  now  at  New  London, 
but  the  most  thorough  scholar  which  the  Old  Side  could 
boast;  Eichard  Sanckey,  of  Hanover,  a  plagiarist,  if  not 
worse ;  Elder,  of  Paxton ;  Craig,  of  Tinkling  Spring, 
Ya.,  where  he  preached  to  the  oldest  congregation  in 
the  State;  Cavin,  of  Falling  Spring,  a  man  of  whom 
his  people  complained  that  he  never  asked  about  the 
state  of  their  souls ;  Thomson,  of  Pennsborough ;  Boyd, 
of  Octorara;  Martin,  of  Lewes,  Del.;  and  Jamison,  at 
Zion's  Hill,  in  the  same  State,  joined  with  Cross  in  the 
signing  of  the  Protest. 

Besides  these  two  parties,  which  from  the  period  of 
the  Adopting  Act  began  to  be  more  distinctly  marked, 
there  was  a  third,  occupying  an  intermediate  posi- 
tion, and  who  might,  if  they  had  acted  in  time,  have 
prevented  the  division.  These  were,  principally,  Dick- 
inson, of  Elizabethtown ;  Pemberton,  of  New  York; 
Pierson,  of  Woodbridge;  Horton,  of  Connecticut  Farms; 


ADOPTING   ACT   TO   DIVISION.  65 

Burr,  of  Newark \  Pumroy,  of  Newtown;  Hnbbell,  of 
Morristown;  and  Gillespie  and  Eutcheson,  of  New 
Castle  Presbytery.  Several  of  these  were  as  warm 
friends  of  the  revival  as  the  Tennents,  and,  had  they 
been  present  at  the  critical  moment,  might  easily  have 
turned  the  scale. 

The  seeds  of  the  division,  however,  had  long  been 
sown.  From  the  time  of  the  Adopting  Act,  in  1729, 
the  discordant  elements  of  which  the  Synod  was  com- 
posed began  to  betray  themselves.  The  question  was 
not  in  regard  to  the  Adopting  Act  itself.  In  this,  all 
parties  seemed  readily  enough  to  acquiesce.  The  mem- 
bers who  were  absent  when  it  was  passed  expressed 
their  approval  of  it  in  the  following  year.  The  several 
Presbyteries  reported  the  uniform  acceptance  of  the 
Confession  by  those  wThom  they  licensed  and  ordained. 
The  only  complaint  anywhere  to  be  heard  on  the  sub- 
ject was  the  laxness  rather  than  the  severity  of  the 
rule ;  and  this  complaint  came  only  from  a  few  over- 
anxious, with  fears  transmitted  from  the  experience  of 
the  Irish  Synod. 

In  spite  of  the  apprehensions  expressed  by  the 
friends  of  vital  religion  at  the  sad  decline  which  it  had 
experienced,,  the  Church  was  still  extending  its  bounds. 
Help  was  given  from  the  fund  to  several  needy 
churches,  and  new  congregations  were  continually 
forming  and  applying  for  ministers.  At  Wall  Kill, 
Goshen,  Crosswater,  Trenton,  and  in  Delaware  and 
Virginia,  there  were  urgent  demands  for  the  institutions 
of  the  gospel, — demands  which  the  Synod  exerted  it- 
self to  meet.  In  1732,  the  Donegal  Presbytery  was 
erected,  of  which  Anderson,  who  had  removed  from 
New  York,  Thomson,  Boyd,  Orr,  and  Bertram,  were  the 
original  members.  In  the  following  year,  the  Presbytery 
of  Philadelphia  was  divided,  and   a  portion  of  it  set 

off  to  constitute  the  Presbytery  of  East  Jersey,  which 

6* 


66  HISTORY    OF    PRESBYTERIANISM. 

in  1738  was  in  conjunction  with  the  Presbytery  of 
Long  Island,  thenceforth  known  as  the  Presbytery  of 
New  York.  At  nearly  the  same  time,  the  Presbytery 
of  New  Brunswick  was  erected,  the  members  of  which 
were  Gilbert  and  William  Tennent,  Samuel  Blair,  Elea- 
zar  Wales,  and  John  Cross. 

There  was,  beyond  doubt,  a  sad  decline  of  vital  piety 
among  the  churches.  Some  of  the  ministers  whom. 
Tennent  rebuked,  and  into  whose  congregations  he 
intruded,  were  unquestionably  ''Pharisee  preachers." 
Among  them,  too,  were  bitter  opponents  of  the  revival, 
if  not  of  Evangelical  religion.  But  the  majority  of  the 
Synod  were  by  no  means  men  of  this  stamp.  Some 
of  their  measures  were  unwise  and  characterized  by 
party  zeal ;  but  in  an  impartial  judgment  they  by  no 
means  deserve  the  odium  heaped  upon  them  by  their 
opponents. 

The  Irish  members  plausibly  contended  that  there 
was  danger  to  the  Church  from  intrants  from  Ireland. 
The  tide  of  immigration  had  within  a  few  years  rapidly 
increased.  It  was  not  at  all  improbable  that,  unless 
vigilance  was  exercised,  the  churches  would  be  cursed 
by  unworthy  men.  Indeed,  the  Synod  had  already  been 
called  to  deal  with  one  who  might  serve  as  a  sj)ecimen. 
Samuel  Hemphill,  with  ample  credentials  to  the  Synod 
from  the  Presbytery  of  Strabane,  was  received  as  a 
member  on  his  easy  subscription  to  the  Confession  of 
Faith.  He  preached  at  New  London  with  much  ac- 
ceptance, and  without  exciting  any  suspicion  of  bis 
deistical  sentiments.  Adverse  reports  from  Ireland  led 
to  an  investigation ;  but  the  ministers  of  New  Castle 
Presbytery  declared  themselves  satisfied  with  his 
teachings.  He  imposed  himself  on  Andrews,  and 
preached  all  winter  at  Philadelphia.  Franklin  liked 
his  preaching,  which  soon  ran  into  downright  Deism. 
Andrews  was  at  length  forced  to  bring  charges  against 


ADOPTING    ACT    TO   DIVISION.  67 

him.  They  were  sustained  by  evidence;  and  Hemp- 
bill  was  suspended.  This  was  in  17:;.~>.  Jlis  trial  was 
by  the  Synod's  commission;  and,  when  the  case  came 
before  the  body  at  its  next  session,  Hemphill  sent  them 

an  insulting  letter,  and  closed  by  saying  that  lie 
thought  "they  would  do  him  a  deal  of  honor  if  they 
would  entirely  excommunicate  him." 

If  such  conduct  was  felt  to  be  exasperating,  the 
danger  which  it  indicated  was  seen  to  be  imminent. 
It  led  the  Synod  to  take  decisive  measures  for  the 
security  of  both  ministers  and  churches.  "Wolves  in 
sheep's  clothing"  were  "invading  the  flock  of  Christ/' 
"Devouring  monsters"  were  "numerous  abroad  in  the 
world."  "The  late  bold  assault  that  hath  been  made 
upon  us"  "  should  put  us  to  our  arms,  and  excite  us 
with  care  and  diligence  to  put  ourselves  in  a  posture 
of  defence  against  all  future  attempts." 

The  overture,  accordingly,  adds,  "  Seeing  we  are 
likely  to  have  the  most  of  our  supply  of  ministers,  to 
fill  our  vacancies,  from  the  North  of  Ireland,"  and,  in 
view  of  the  "great  danger  of  being  imposed  upon  by 
ministers  and  preachers  from  thence,"  it  is  proposed  to 
the  reverend  Synod  to«erder  a  more  careful  inspection 
of  credentials  of  those  who  come  from  abroad,  no  one 
to  be  called  till  he  have  preached  six  months  within  the 
Synod's  bounds,  and  no  student  to  be  received  to  enter 
upon  his  trials,  till  he  have  given  most  of  the  ministers 
of  the  Presbytery  opportunity  to  take  a  view  of  his 
parts  and  behavior. 

To  these  measures,  taken  by  themselves,  there  could 
be  no  reasonable  objection.  But  the  attempt  was 
made — which,  in  fact,  if  valid,  would  have  destroyed  the 
Adopting  Act — to  require  every  minister  to  receive  the 
Confession  and  Form  of  Government,  not  in  the  sys- 
tematic way  prescribed  in  the  Adopting  Act,  but  on 
the  ij^ixxiinu.  verba  principle.     This  was  the  beginning 


08  nisTORY  or  presbyterianism. 

of  one  of  the  difficulties  which  led  to  the  division  of 
the  Church.  And  three  years  later,  in  1738,  a  proposal 
was  made  by  the  Presbytery  of  Lewes,  which  was  re- 
garded by  the  Tennents  as  espec  ally  obnoxious.  Pre- 
mising the  great  importance  of  a  learned  ministry,  and 
the  lack  of  any  institution  for  collegiate  education 
within  the  bounds  of  the  Church,  which  obviated  the 
"grievous  disadvantage,"  or  furnished  "a  degree,"  it 
urged  the  appointment  of  a  committee  of  Synod  by 
whom  the  candidates  were  to  be  examined,  and  whose 
certificate  might  serve  instead  of  a  diploma. 

The  approval  of  this  measure  by  a  great  majority 
was  especially  obnoxious  to  the  Tennents  and  to  New 
Brunswick  Presbytery.  In  connection  with  the  acts 
of  the  previous  year,  it  was  thought  to  bear  especially 
against  them.  In  1737,  it  was  ordered  that  no  proba- 
tioner or  minister  of  one  Presbytery  be  allowed  to  preach 
in  the  bounds  of  another,  without  the  permission  of  the 
latter,  and,  upon  being  informed  that  it  would  be  con- 
sidered objectionable,  he  was  to  desist.  If  this  measure 
interfered  with  the  itinerating  evangelism  of  John  Cross 
and  the  Tennents,  the  other  seemed  to  intimate  not  the 
highest  esteem  of  William  Tennent's  school  at  Nesha- 
miny,  where  quite  a  number  of  young  men  had  been 
educated  for  the  ministry.  Most  of  the  ministers  of 
the  Synod  had  enjoyed  the  advantages  of  a  collegiate 
course, — the  Irish  and  Scotch  members  at  Glasgow,  and 
the  New  England  members. at  Yale  or  Harvard.  It 
was  natural  for  them  to  imagine  that  no  private  insti- 
tution could  answer  the  demand  for  an  educated  minis- 
try. But  in  this  matter  they  scarcely  did  justice  to 
William  Tennent's  "Log  College."  This  institution 
gave  to  the  Church  some  of  her  best  men, — men  eminent 
alike  for  piety  and  learning.  The  elder  Tennent  him- 
self was  an  honor  to  the  Church  of  his  adoption.  In 
J  718  he  abandoned  the  Episcopal  communion,  scrupling 


ADOPTING    ACT   TO    DIVISION.  G9 

at  her  government,  discipline,  and  the  encouragement, 
or  at  least  toleration,  which  she  extended  to  Armiman 
error  and  unchristian  practice.  With  a  wise  forecast, 
he   perceived   that   the   demand   of  the  Presbyterian 

Church  for  more  ministers  must  ultimately  be  met 
within  herself.  He  set  about  the  work  of  supplying 
the  want,  and  under  him  the  two  Blairs,  Finley,  Row- 
Land,  and  his  own  sons,  were  educated  for  the  ministry. 
Not  long  after  his  settlement  at  Neshaminy,  in  172<*>, 
he  erected,  within  a  few  steps  of  his  own  dwelling,  the 
humble  edifice  which  was  to  acquire  such  an  enviable 
notoriety.  The  spirit  in  wThich  it  was  established  au- 
gured well  for  its  future.  In  Ireland  and  Scotland  the 
signs  of  prevalent  worldliness,  foreshadowing  a  sad 
apostasy,  were  already  apparent.  In  this  country  the 
primitive  zeal  of  Makemie's  compeers  wTas  already 
on  the  decline.  "Eevivals  of  religion  were  nowhere 
heard  of,  and  an  orthodox  creed  and  a  decent  external 
conduct  were  the  only  points  on  which  inquiry  was 
made  when  persons  were  admitted  to  the  communion 
of  the  Church."  Vital  piety  had  almost  deserted  the 
Church.  The  substance  of  preaching  was  a  "  dead 
orthodoxy,"  in  which  little  emphasis  was  laid  upon 
regeneration,  a  change  of  heart,  or  the  terrors  of  the 
law  against  sin.  With  such  a  state  of  things  Tennent 
had  no  sympathy.  His  warm  evangelical  spirit  led  him 
to  strive  wTith  all  his  energies  to  effect  a  change.  The 
young  men  who  came  under  his  influence,  in  their 
course  of  education,  wrere  inspirited  to  become  his  effi- 
cient allies.  When  Whitefield  visited  Tennent,  in  1739, 
he  found  much  to  admire  in  what  had  already  been 
accomplished.  "  Our  ministers,"  he  says,  "  are  glorious 
without.  From  this  despised  place,  seven  <>r  eight  worthy 
ministers  of  Jesus  have  lately  been  sent  forth,  more 
are  almost  ready  to  be  sent,  and  the  foundation  is  now 
laying  for  the  instruction  of  many  others. " 


70  HISTORY    OF    PRESBYTERIANISM. 

Tennent's  relation  to  the  Synod,  according  to  White- 
field,  was  much  like  that  of  Erskine,  of  Scotland,  to 
the  "judicatories  of  Edinburgh."  He  was  "secretly 
despised."  A  prejudice  existed  against  him  and  his 
institution.  It  was  only  increased  when  Tennent  in- 
vited Whitefield  to  Neshaminy  and  gave  him  a  cordial 
encouragement  in  his  work.  His  own  people  were  not 
altogether  united  in  him.  The  difficulty  originated  in 
the  fact  that  he  had  never  been  formally  installed;  and 
when  a  hearing  of  the  case  had  been  had  before  the 
Synod  of  Philadelphia,  it  was  declared  that  the  disaf- 
fection was  due  to  ignorance  and  prejudice.  The  people 
were  recommended  to  lay  aside  their  groundless  dis- 
satisfactions and  return  to  their  duty,  otherwise  they 
wTould  be  treated  by  the  Synod  as  disorderly.  The 
minute  stating  the  result  of  the  Synod's  deliberations 
was  unanimously  adopted. 

This  was  in  1737.  Two  years  later,  it  is  doubtful 
whether  the  vote  would  have  been  so  decisive.  Ten- 
nent fraternized  with  Whitefield,  and  the  students 
whom  he  had  trained  were  the  ones  who  intruded  their 
itinerant  evangelism  upon  other  congregations,  in  viola- 
tion of  the  rules  adopted  by  Synod.  In  their  view, 
those  rules  were  tyrannic  and  unwarranted.  They 
claimed  that  no  "  Pharisee  preacher"  could  be  author- 
ized to  exclude  them  from  publicly  addressing  those 
of  other  congregations  who  desired  it. 

The  act  of  1738,  in  regard  to  the  examination  of  can- 
didates by  a  committee  of  the  Synod,  was  especially 
grievous  to  the  friends  of  the  Log  College,  as  that  in 
regard  to  intrusion  into  other  congregations  was  to  the 
friends  of  the  revival.  The  New  Brunswick  Presby- 
tery objected  to  it,  and  their  objections  were  stated  in 
the  Synod  of  1739.  The  subject  therefore  was  recon- 
sidered, and  it  was  ordered  that  the  candidates  should 
be  examined,  not  by  the  committee  that  had  been  ap- 


ADOPTING    ACT    TO   DIVISION.  71 

pointed,  but  by  the  whole  Synod  or  its  commission. 
The  principle  of  the  previous  year  was  virtually  reaf- 
firmed, and  it  was  scarcely  Less  objectionable  in  shape. 
Gilbert  Tennent  cried  out  that  it  was  to  prevent  his 
father's  school  from  training  gracious  men  for  the 
ministry.  He  protested  against  it,  and  his  father,  his 
two  brothers,  Samuel  Blair,  and  Eleazar  Wales,  his  co- 
Presbyters,  and  several  elders,  joined  with  him  in  the 
protest. 

The  difficulty  was  aggravated  by  the  fact  that  the 
New  Brunswick  Presbytery  had,  during  the  past  year, 
not  only  licensed  John  Rowland,  without  regard  to 
the  Synod's  rule,  but  sent  him  to  supply  a  vacancy 
within  the  bounds  of  Philadelphia  Presbytery.  The 
Synod  pronounced  their  action  disorderly,  and  refused 
to  admit  Eowland  as  a  preacher  till  he  submitted  to  the 
Synod's  examination.  At  this  juncture  the  conclusion 
arrived  at  in  the  case  of  the  controversy  between  Ten- 
nent and  Cowell  gave  the  former,  although  he  did  not 
object  publicly  at  the  time,  a  new  occasion  of  offence. 

To  make  matters  still  worse,  the  Synod  of  the  same 
year  took  steps  for  erecting  a  school  or  seminary  of 
learning, — appointing  Pemberton,  Dickinson,  Anderson, 
and  Cross,  of  Philadelphia,  to  prosecute  the  affair.  The 
first  two  were  from  New  England,  the  third  from  Scot- 
land, and  the  last  from  Ireland;  for  pecuniary  aid  was 
to  be  sought  from  all  quarters.  The  step  was  a  wise 
one;  but  it  altogether  ignored  Tennent's  school,  which 
was  entitled  to  honorable  mention.  It  showed,  more- 
over, that  the  Synod  had  no  thought  of  any  separation 
as  yet  which  would  exclude  Pemberton,  Dickinson,  or 
any  of  the  New  England  men. 

Before  the  meeting  of  the  Synod  in  1740,  some  im- 
portant events  occurred.  Whitefield  made  his  first 
visit  within  the  bounds  of  the  Presbyterian  Church, 
and  the  warm  and  fervent  spirit  of  Gilbert  Tennent 


72  HISTORY   OP   PRESBYTERIANISM. 

drew  him  to  his  views  and  party.  A  strong  popular 
feeling  was  enlisted  in  his  favor.  The  attraction  of  his 
fame  and  eloquence  drew  crowds  to  hear  him,  and  his 
awakening  and  convincing  discourses  produced  a  gene- 
ral concern.  In  New  York  and  Philadelphia  thousands 
thronged  around  him,  and  large  numbers  were  brought 
under  conviction.  Treat,  of  Abington,  who  had,  to 
this  time,  acted  with  the  majority  of  the  Synod,  and 
Campbell,  of  Tehicken,  gave  up  their  hopes  and 
mourned  as  self-deceivers  and  soul-murderers. 

In  the  course  of  a  few  months,  through  Whitefield's 
influence,  a  great  change  was  wrought.  He  preached 
in  New  York  for  Pemberton,  at  Elizabethtown  for 
Dickinson,  at  Wilmington  twice  to  five  thousand,  at 
New  Castle  to  two  thousand  five  hundred,  at  Christiana 
Bridge  to  three  thousand,  on  Sabbath  at  White  Clay  to 
eight  thousand;  and  his  farewell  sermon  at  Philadelphia 
was  attended  by  ten  thousand. 

These  numbers  may  be  somewhat  exaggerated;  but 
the  fact  that  in  Philadelphia  there  was  religious  service 
every  day,  and  three  services  on  the  Sabbath,  for  a  yeai 
after,  indicates  the  powerful  hold  which  he  had  taken 
of  the  popular  mind.  The  members  of  the  Old  side 
for  the  most  part  disliked  him,  and  refused  him  their 
pulpits.  Pemberton  and  Dickinson,  by  welcoming  him, 
had  become  more  closely  drawn  to  sympathize  with 
Tennent,  with  whom  Whitefield  was  in  strong  sympathy. 

Here,  then,  on  a  grand  scale,  the  rules  of  the  Synod 
in  regard  to  intrusion  had  been  violated,  and  those 
implicated  with  Whitefield  were  more  than  the  New 
Brunswick  Presbytery,  who  during  the  year  had  ag- 
gravated their  original  offence  by  taking  Finley  on 
trial,  licensing  Robinson  and  McCrea,  and  ordaining 
Rowland. 

Yet,  with  the  great  good  effected,  there  were  some 
mischiefs;  and  these  mischiefs  were  nearly  the  entiro 


ADOPTING    ACT    TO    DIVISION.  73 

result  which  the  prejudices  of  the  Old  side  permitted 
them  to  perceive.  Their  pence  had  been  disturbed. 
Some  of  their  congregations  had  been  divided  or  greatly 
reduced  in  uumbers.  The  people,  many  of  them,  did 
not  hesitate,  with  the  sanction  of  W"hitefield  and  Ten- 
nent,  to  pronounce  their  ministers  unconverted;  and 
in  some  cases  at  least  they  were  not  far  from  the  truth. 

In  these  circumstances  the  Synod  of  1740  met.  The 
subjects  of  the  Synod's  rule  for  the  trial  of  candidates, 
and  the  preaching  of  ministers  within  the  bounds  of 
other  Presbyteries,  were  the  first  introduced  for  dis- 
cussion. Tennent  wished  a  revision  of  the  conclusion 
reached  in  regard  to  his  controversy  with  Cowell,  but 
was  met  b}~  an  overwhelming  negative.  The  rule  for 
the  trial  of  candidates  was  then  considered.  Any  mem- 
ber of  the  Synod  was  allowed  to  propose  any  expedient 
to  secure  peace.  All  were  agreed  that  the  Synod  were 
proper  judges  of  the  qualification  of  their  own  mem- 
bers; but  the  protesting  brethren  objected  to  the  inser- 
tion in  the  minutes  of  the  agreement  of  the  previous 
year,  as  unnecessary. 

There  was  "  an  uncomfortable  debate"  on  the  subject, 
but  on  the  final  vote  it  was  decided  to  abide  by  the 
agreement  for  the  present,  or  till  some  other  expedient 
could  be  found  to  answer  its  design.  The  majority  was 
not  large  in  its  favor,  for  of  fifty-nine  members  of  the 
Synod,  the  protestants  of  the  previous  year,  joined  by 
fifteen  others  present  at  the  Synod,  formed  a  powerful 
minority.  Dickinson,  "VVilmot,  Burr,  Pierson,  Nutman, 
and  llorton  must  have  voted  with  the  majority,  or  they 
would  have  turned  the  scale  in  favor  of  the  protesting 
party. 

In  regard  to  the  other  rule  of  the  Synod  bearing 
upon  the  intrusion  of  ministers  and  licentiates  within 
the  bounds  of  other  Presbyteries,  the  Synod  was  forced 
to  retrace  its  steps.    Whitefield  had  "  rode  over''  ittrium- 

Vol.  I.— 7 


74  HISTORY    OF    PRESBYTERIANISM. 

phantly,  if  not  defiantly ;  and  the  New  York  brethren, 
as  well  as  the  New  Brunswick  Presbytery,  had  lent 
him  to  some  extent  their  countenance  and  sanction. 
Popular  feeling,  moreover, — and  that,  too,  in  the  city 
where  the  Synod  was  assembled, — would  have  resented 
with  indignation  any  such  restriction  as  would  be  re- 
quired by  a  strict  interpretation  of  the  rule  of  the 
previous  year.  It  was,  therefore,  declared  that  the 
object  of  the  rule  was  to  prevent  "  divisions  in  our 
congregations,"  and  not  to  hinder  "  itinerant  preach- 
ing." And  in  regard  to  those  who  might  have  been 
licensed  to  preach  without  the  Synodical  examination 
required,  the  Synod  declared  that  they  did  not  deny 
such  to  be  "  truly  gospel  ministers,"  but  only  that  they 
could  not  be  admitted  as  members  of  the  Synod  till 
they  had  complied  with  its  rules.1 

Here  at  least,  from  whatever  cause,  was  manifested 
a  disposition  to  compromise  differences.  This  was 
equally  obvious  when  Gilbert  Tennent  asked  for  an 
i?iterloquitur, — a  secret  session  for  mutual  conference. 
It  was  late  in  the  closing  session,  and  he  was  directed 
to  proceed  with  what  he  had  to  otfer.  The  house  was 
crowded  with  spectators,  nearly  all  of  them  in  sym- 
pathy with  him.  The  intervals  of  Synod  had  been 
spent  by  the  New  side  in  preaching.  There  were  two 
sermons  at  least,  and  sometimes  more,  every  day, — 
sometimes  on  Society  Hill,  sometimes  at  the  Baptist 
church.  Dickinson  was  not  sound  enough  on  revivals 
to  be  allowed  to  preach.  Eowland  and  Davenport 
were  more  popular,  and  their  course  and  views  were 
regarded  with  extensive,  if  not  general,  approval.  The 
crowd  that  had  listened  to  them  was  now  assembled 
in  the  house  where  the  Synod  was  convened. 

1  Such  is  the  substance  of  the  overture  introduced.  It  is  doubt- 
fu»  whether  it  was  adopted. 


ADOPTING    ACT    TO    DIVISION.  75 

Tennent  arose,  and  read  a  terrible  representation  on 
the  state  of  the  ministry.  The  picture  which  he  drew 
— Largely  from  his  own  fancy  and  fears — was  appalling. 

If  his  statements  were  to  be  accepted,  his  first  duty 
would  have  been  to  table  charges  against  a  majority 
of  the  Synod,  or  withdraw  at  once  from  all  connection 
with  it.  No  sooner  had  Tennent  finished  than  Blair 
arose  and  read  a  paper  drawn  up  in  the  same  strain. 
Both  were  allowed  to  proceed  without  interruption. 
When  they  had  closed,  they  were  exhorted  to  spare  no 
man  in  the  Synod,  but  to  point  out  the  guilty,  that  they 
might  at  least  be  distinguished  from  the  innocent. 
This  they  were  not  prepared  to  do.  They  would 
prove  the  matters  charged  against  particular  mem- 
bers; but  they  admitted  that  they  had  not  spoken 
with  the  persons  aimed  at,  or  sifted  carefully  the  re- 
ports whieh  they  had  credited. 

With  the  calmness  of  dignity  and  self-respect,  yet 
with  a  courteous  regard  to  the  statements  of  Tennent 
and  Blair,  the  Synod  declared,  in  view  of  their  repre- 
sentations, that  they  "  do,  therefore,  solemnly  ad- 
monish all  the  ministers  in  our  bounds,  seriously  to 
consider  the  weight  of  their  charge,  and,  as  they  will 
answer  it  at  the  great  day  of  Christ,  to  take  care  to 
approve  themselves  to  God  in  the  instances  complained 
of.  And  the  Presbyteries  are  recommended  to  take 
care  of  their  members  in  these  particulars." 

Before  adjourning,  the  Synod  readily  granted  the 
request  of  Newtown  and  Tinicum  to  be  placed  under 
the  care  of  New  Brunswick  Presbytery.  This  body  in 
many  quarters  now  enjoyed  a  high  degree  of  popu- 
larity, while  in  others  its  name  was  a  synonym  for 
mischief  and  enthusiasm.  Notwithstanding  the  rules 
and  the  authority  of  Synod,  the  obnoxious  Presbytery 
continued  in  its  former  course.  It  licensed  Finley 
without    regard  to  the    Synod's   rule  of  examination, 


76  HISTORY    OF    PRESBYTERIANISM. 

and  sent  him  to  preach  at  Eising  Sun  to  a  party  who 
were  erecting  a  building  just  across  the  highway  from 
the  old  church.  Tennent  himself  went  forth  to  evan- 
gelize in  West  Jersey,  Pennsylvania,  and  Maryland. 

From  this  field  he  directed  his  steps  to  New  Eng- 
land. Whitefield  had  just  visited  Boston  at  the  re- 
quest of  the  ministers,  and  had  preached  there,  and  all 
along;  the  road  to  New  Haven,  as  the  meeting-houses 
were  thrown  open  to  him.  Tennent  was  urged  to 
water  the  seed  that  had  been  sown.  His  labors  were 
manifold,  and  his  popularity  was  second  only  to  White- 
field's. 

The  Synod  of  1741  met;  but  the  division  which  re- 
sulted was  already  foreshadowed  in  what  had  taken 
place  within  the  bounds  of  the  Church.  Everywhere 
there  were  divisions  and  alienations.  New  Castle  Pres- 
bytery was  divided  with  Evans,  Cathcart,  and  Alison 
on  the  Old  side,  and  Charles  Tennent  and  Blair  on  the 
other,  while  Gillespie  and  Hutcheson  were  dissatisfied 
with  both.  In  Donegal  Presbytery,  Craighead  at  New 
London,  and  Alexander  at  Brandywine  Manor,  coun- 
tenanced the  itinerations  of  Finley  and  sympathized 
with  the  Tennents.  They  complained  that  candidates 
were  licensed  without  proper  examination  in  regard  to 
heart-religion.  They  did  not  hesitate  to  make  open 
objections  to  Black,  Elder,  Sanckey,  Thomson,  and 
Cavin,  and,  in  the  case  of  some  of  them,  only  on  too 
solid  grounds. 

Yet  the  language  and  conduct  of  the  New  side  were 
on  many  occasions  utterly  inexcusable.  In  January 
preceding  the  meeting  of  Synod,  Finley  preached  a 
sermon  entitled  "  Christ  reigning  and  Satan  raging." 
It  was  extremely  harsh,  bitter,  and  denunciatory.  In 
a  printed  letter  he  spoke  scornfully  of  "  the  babbling 
ignorant  priests  that  would  seem  such  friends  to  holi- 
ness."    "Are   not  these,"  he  asks,  "the  devil's  advo- 


ADOPTING    ACT    TO    DIVISION.  77 

cates?"  Thomson's  doctrine  in  his  sermon  on  Convic- 
tion and  Assurance  was  condemned  us  "Moravian, 
Muggletonian,  and  detestable."1 

It  was  impossible,  while  such  proceedings  were 
sanctioned  by  the  New  Brunswick  party,  and  were 
producing  a  most  exasperated  slate  of  feeling  in  its 
opponents,  that  the  Synod  should  meet  in  harmony. 
It  did  not  S"  meet.  The  members  on  the  side  of  the 
protestants  were  too  bold  and  confident;  nor  can  we 
altogether  defend  their  course  as  orderly.  To  add  to 
the  difficulty,  the  entire  New.  York  Presbytery,  who 
might  have  acted  as  mediators,  were  absent.  Standing 
aloof  in  great  measure  from  the  strife,  they,  with  Gil- 
lespie, Hutcheson,  and  other  moderate  men,  might  at 
least  have  deferred  the  rupture.  Disapproving  of 
many  things  which  had  been  endorsed  by  Whitefield 
and  Tennent,  they  were  yet  the  firm  friends  of  sound 
doctrine,  of  good  order,  and  of  vital  religion. 

In  their  absence,  the  opposing  parties  in  the  Synod 
came  face  to  face.  The  first  thing  was  to  listen  to 
objections  against  certain  persons  sitting  in  Synod. 
The  individual  most  obnoxious  was  A.  Craighead,  who 
belonged  to  the  Tennent  party  and  who  had  been 
arraigned  before  the  Donegal  Presbytery.  He  had 
contemned  their  authority,  and  had  been  suspended 
for  contumacy.  While  his  case  wras  pending,  the 
members  of  the  Old  side  brought  in  their  protest 
against  the  right  of  the  protestants  of  the  previous 
year  to  sit  in  the  Synod.  They  charged  to  their 
''unwearied,  unscriptural,  anti-Presbyterial,  unchari- 
table, division  practices,"  for  the  past  year, "  the  dread- 
ful distractions  and  convulsions  which  all  of  a  sudden 
have  seized  this  infant  Church ;  .  .  .  that  she  is  in 
danger  of  expiring  outright."     Against  such  disorderly 


1  See  AVebster's  History. 
7* 


78  HISTORY    OF    PRESBYTERIANISM. 

feelings  they  felt  it  their  "  duty  to  bear  testimony/' 
With  such  conviction,  they  protested  that  it  was  "  the 
indispensable  duty  of  the  Synod  to  maintain  and  stand 
by  the  principles  of  doctrine,  worship,  and  govern- 
ment" summed  up  in  the  acknowledged  standards  of 
the  Church;  that  no  one  who  had  not  adopted  or  sub- 
scribed these  standards  "  according  to  our  last  explica- 
tion of  the  Adopting  Act,"  no  one  holding  doctrines 
opposed  to  them,  or  persisting  in  practices  "  contrary 
to  any  of  the  known  rights  of  Presbytery"  or  "  orders 
agreed  to  by  the  Synod,."  should  be  allowed  to  sit  and 
vote  till  he  repented  of  his  wrong;  that  the  protesting 
brethren  of  the  previous  year  had  forfeited  their  rights 
as  members,  for  many  reasons  afterwards  specified; 
that  if,  notwithstanding  their  present  protestations, 
the  others  should  continue,  as  during  the  past  year,  in 
their  anti-Presbyterial  practices,  they  should  be  looked 
upon  as  guilty  of  schism,  and  not  members  of  "  the 
true  Presbyterian  Church  in  this  province." 

It  will  be  observed  that  "  the  last  explication  of"  the 
Adopting  Act  was  that  of  1736.  The  majority  of  the 
Synod,  therefore,  demanded  as  a  condition  of  member- 
ship a  principle  fundamentally  different  from  that  of 
the  Adopting  Act.  They  demanded,  in  short,  an  ipsis- 
sima  verba  subscription.  And  because  of  the  refusal  to 
yield  to  this  demand,  among  others,  they  proceeded  to 
what  was  a  virtual  excision,  and  what  they  did  not 
hesitate  to  characterize  as  such  in  their  subsequent 
documents.  This  view  is  strengthened  by  the  fact  that 
they  refer  in  the  protest  to  the  manner  in  which  their 
Presbyteries  adopt  the  Confession.  But  it  can  be 
shown  by  existing  documents  that  the  Presbyteries  of 
New  Castle  and  Donegal  had  adopted  an  ipsissima  verba 
subscription, — one  contrary  to  the  principle  of  the 
Adopting  Act.    The  systematic  in  contradistinction  from 


ADOPTING    ACT   TO   DIVISION.  79 

the  ipsissima  verba  subscription,  was   re-established  at 

the  reunion  in  1758. 

The  members  of  the  Old  side  then  proceeded  to  give 
their  reasons  for  their  protest.  These  were  found  in 
the  conduct  of  the  favorers  of  the  New  Brunswick 
party,  which  embraced  some  in  each  of  the  Presby- 
teries of  .New  Castle  and  Donegal,  denying  the  author- 
ity of  Presbyteries  and  Synods  to  go  any  further  in 
judging  of  appeals  and  references  than  to  give  their 
Inst  advice;  their  protest  and  action  against  the 
Synod's  rule  for  the  examination  of  candidates ;  their 
"  irregular  irruptions  upon  congregations  to  which  they 
have  no  immediate  relation,  sowing  the  seeds  of  divi- 
sion among  people,"  and  alienating  their  minds  with 
unjust  prejudices  against  pastors j  their  "rash  judging 
and  condemning  all  who  do  not  fall  in  with  their 
measures,  as  carnal,  graceless,  and  enemies  of  the  work 
of  God,  as  instanced  in  Telinent's  Nottingham  sermon, 
and  his  and  Blair's  papers  read  before  the  last  Synod; 
their  disorderly  itinerations  through  other  congrega- 
tions, which  through  them  had  become  shattered  and 
divided;  their  strange  notions  as  to  what  constituted  a 
call  to  the  ministry;"  their  "preaching  the  terrors  of 
the  law  in  such  a  manner  and  dialect  as  has  no  prece- 
dent in  the  word  of  God,  but  rather  appears  to  be  bor- 
rowed from  a  worse  dialect;"  their  "  working  on  the 
passions  and  affections  of  weak  minds,  making  persons 
cry  out  in  a  hideous  manner,  or  fall  in  convulsion  fits;" 
their  maintaining  that  all  true  converts  could  be  abso- 
lutely certain  of  their  gracious  state,  and  able  to  nar- 
rate the  time  and  manner  of  their  conversion,  and  that 
the  people  were  under  no  tie  to  their  own  pastors,  but 
might  leave  them  when  they  pleased,  and  ought  to  go 
where  they  could  get  most  good. 

For  these  reasons,  they  pronounced  union  with  the 
obnoxious  brethren  "monstrously  absurd," — one  party 


80  HISTORY   OF   PRESBYTERIANISM. 

owning,  and  the  other  disowning,  the  judicial  deter- 
minations of  the  whole;  one  party  desiring  to  join 
with  another  party  which  they  condemned  "whole- 
sale," meeting  with  them  once  in  the  year,  but  work- 
ing against  them  at  all  other  times,  disregarding  the 
authority  of  the  common  standards,  yet  arrogating 
authority  to  palm  and  obtrude  members  upon  the 
Synod  contrary  to  its  judgment. 

Such  were  declared  to  be  but  a  part  of  the  reasons 
why  the  Old  side  protested  against  those  who  sustained 
the  action  and  cause  of  the  New  Brunswick  Presbytery. 
They  did  not  maintain  that  they  themselves  were  guilt- 
less, but  justified  the  "  Divine  proceedings  against" 
them,  and  avowed  the  duty  and  necessity  of  a  reforma- 
tion of  the  evils  whereby  God  had  been  provoked. 

The  protest  was  read  and  laid  upon  the  table. 
Several,  who  had  not  seen  it  before,  signed  their  names. 
There  was  great  confusion.  Andrews,  who  was  mode- 
rator, had  no  previous  knowledge  of  the  measure,  and 
left  the  chair.  As  the  elders  signed  their  names,  some 
cried  out  that  they  were  subscribing  what  they  had  not 
heard  or  considered.  Others  declared  that  it  was  a 
protesting  of  lies  before  Almighty  God.  Each  party 
was  too  excited  to  deliberate.  The  friends  of  the  New 
Brunswick  Presbytery  wished  to  speak  in  their  own 
defence.  Blair  and  others,  too  confident  of  their 
strength,  insisted  that  the  protesters  ought  to  with- 
draw, for  they  were  not  a  majority  of  the  body.  The 
sympathy  of  the  spectators  was  on  the  side  of  Blair 
and  Tennent.  The  galleries  rang  with  cries  to  cast 
the  protesters  out. 

No  pacific  measures,  no  offers  of  compromise,  were 

presented.     The  New  Brunswick  party  were  firm  in 

the  conviction  that  they  were  in  the  majority,  and  can- 

rassed  whether  they  or  their  opponents  were  to  be 

regarded  as  the  Synod.     The  latter  maintained  that, 


ADOPTING    ACT    TO    DIVISION.  81 

on  which  side  soever  the  majority  might  be,  the  New 
Brunswick  party  had  do  righl  t<»  sit  in  the  Synod. 

The  roll  was  called.  Andrews,  who  had  to  act  on 
the  spur  of  the  occasion, — for  he  had  not  been  let  into 
1  Ik- secret  of  the  protest,  which  must  have  been  long 
contemplated,  as  it  was  carefully  drawn, — decided  at 
once  that  he  could  not  join  with  the  New  Brunswick 
brethren.  The  moderate  members  were  unwilling  to 
act  with  them,  and  some  who  Mould  have  sustained 
them  had  left.  Gillespie  and McHenry  did  not  appear. 
Iliitcheson  hesitated.  Elmer  and  his  elder  had  gone 
home.  The  New  Brunswick  party  were  clearly  in  the 
minority.     They  withdrew,  followed  by  a  great  crowd. 

The  division  was  accomplished.  Treat  and  Wales 
were  the  only  New  England  ministers  who  withdrew 
with  the  excluded  party.  The  others  grieved,  in  com- 
mon with  the  more  moderate  members  present  at  the 
Synod,  over  what  had  taken  place.  There  had  been  a 
struggle  for  the  ascendency  between  two  rival  parties, 
each  aspiring  to  control  the  Church,  and  each  com- 
bining with  its  conscientious  convictions  no  small 
measure  of  human  passion.  The  New  Brunswick  party 
were  zealous  for  what  they  regarded  as  vital  evangelical 
truth,  and  believed  it  to  be  a  part  of  their  mission  to 
unmask  the  hypocrisy,  worldliness,  and  sin  of  the 
Church,  and,  in  the  over-earnestness  of  their  purpose, 
forgot  charity  and  discretion.  The  others,  indignant 
under  the  sense  of  wrong,  were  forced  to  appeal  to  the 
authority  of  the  common  standards  and  the  rules  of 
the  Synod,  which  their  brethren  had  too  much  dis- 
regarded. 

Thus  one  party  appealed  to  the  word  of  Cod.  the 
other  to  the  Confession  of  Faith.  One.  zealous  for 
truth,  fell  the  victim  of  its  theories  ■  the  other,  resolute 
for  order,  could  see  only  the  letter  of  the  constitution. 
which  they  yet  violated  by  the  operation  which  they 


82  HISTORY    OF    PRESBYTERIANISM. 

gave  to  a  protest  which  was  virtually  an  exscinding 
act.  Their  extraordinary  zeal  for  the  Confession  was 
less  from  any  superior  attachment  to  its  doctrines,  than 
from  the  fact  that  they  endeavored  to  appeal  to  the 
standards  and  authority  of  the  Synod  as  the  means  of 
self-defence. 


CHAPTEK  VI. 

THE    PERIOD    OF    THE    DIVISION. 

At  the  time  of  the  division  of  the  Synod,  the  pros- 
pect  of  the  New  Brunswick  party  was  not  the  most 
encouraging.  They  were  not  only  a  minority  in  num- 
bers as  the  Synod  was  then  constituted,  but  there  was 
danger  lest  they  should  become  the  victims  of  their 
divisive  principles,  since  the  New  York  Presbytery, 
friendly  to  order,  could  not  approve  their  course,  and 
still  adhered  to  the  Old  side.  This,  however,  was  not 
because  they  endorsed  the  action  of  the  latter  party, 
or  ap p roved  the  protest  by  which  the  New  Brunswick 
members  were  excluded.  In  1742,  Dickinson  was 
chosen  moderator,  and  the  first  business  brought  before 
Synod  was,  on  his  suggestion,  for  a  conference  with  the 
rejected  brethren,  "in  order  to  accommodate  the  differ- 
ence and  make  up  that  unhappy  breach." 

A  committee  was  appointed  to  consider  what  could 
be  done.  It  consisted  of  seven ;  and  Dickinson,  Pem- 
berton,  and  Pierson  were  members  of  it.  The  ejected 
ministers  were  invited  to  confer  with  the  Synod.  They 
did  so;  but  the  conference  reached  no  satisfactory 
result.  The  parties  could  not  agree  as  to  who  should 
be  judges  in  the  case.  The  New  Brunswick  party 
would  submit  the  business  to  the  consideration  of  none 


THE    PERIOD    OF    THE    DIVISION.  83 

who  had  signed  the  protest  of  the  previous  year.  They 
were  met  by  the  Latter  with  the  not  very  soothing 
declaration  that  tiny,  the  protestants,  with  the  mem- 
bers that  adhered  to  them  alter  ejecting  the  others, 

were  the  Synod,  and  had  acted  as  such  in  the  ejection, 
and  in  so  doing  only  cast  out  such  members  as  they 
deemed  unworthy  of  membership,  because  they  main- 
tained and  practised  things  subversive  of  the  constitu- 
tion. They  could  not,  therefore,  be  called  to  account 
by  absent  members,  "  or  by  any  judicature  on  earth." 
They  were  willing,  however,  to  give  the  reasons  of 
their  conduct  to  the  absent  brethren,  and  to  the  public, 
for  their  consideration  or  review. 

The  New  York  members — Dickinson,  Pemberton, 
Pierson,  Elmer,1  and  the  two  Hortons — were  not  satis- 
fied with  this.  They  entered  their  protest  against  the 
exclusion  of  the  New  Brunswick  Presbytery  by  a  pro- 
test and  without  giving  them  a  previous  trial,  as  "an 
illegal  and  unprecedented  procedure,  contrary  to  the 
rules  of  the  gospel,  and  subversive  of  our  excellent 
constitution."  They  protested  also  against  the  refusal 
of  the  present  Synod  to  try  the  legality  of  the  protest 
of  the  previous  year.  They  maintained  that  the  mem- 
bers excluded  by  the  protest  were  still  members,  and 
were  to  be  owned  and  esteemed  such  until  they  were 
pronounced  excluded  after  a  regular  and  impartial  pro- 
cess against  them.  As  to  the  seeming  condemnation 
by  the  protestants  of  the  previous  year,  of  the  revival, 
and  the  language  that  had  been  employed  in  pamphlets 
sanctioned,  if  not  issued,  by  the  Old   side,  they  pro* 


1  Elmer,  though  reckoned  with  the  "  New  York  members," 
belonged  to  the  Presbytery  of  Philadelphia  (printed  minutes  of 
Synod,  p.  141);  he  was  from  New  England,  and  settled  first  at  West 
Brookfield  (Mass.),  then  at  Cohansey,  or  Fairfield,  N.J.  Noyes 
Parris  was  probably  his  predecessor  at  Cohansey. 


84  HISTORY    OF    PRESBYTERIANISM. 

tested  against  all  passages  in  them  which  seemed  to 
reflect  "  upon  the  work  of  Divine  power  and  grace, 
which"  had  "  been  carrying  on  in  so  wonderful  a  man- 
ner in  many"  of  the  congregations.  At  the  same  time, 
to  clear  themselves  from  all  responsibility  for  the  indis- 
cretions and  faults  of  the  New  Brunswick  party,  they 
said,  in  conclusion,  "  We  protest  and  declare  against  all 
divisive  and  irregular  methods  and  practices,  by  which 
the  peace  and  good  order  of  our  churches  have  been 
broken  in  upon." 

The  protest  was  recorded.  The  only  attempt  to 
reply  to  it  in  the  minutes  of  Synod  is  the  statement 
that  the  protest  on  the  first  point  was  opposed  to  the 
facts  of  the  case,  and  that  the  excluded  members  were 
excluded  by  vote  of  the  Synod  if  they  refused  to  give 
satisfaction  for  the  points  complained  of,  and  that  upon 
this  they  withdrew.  Francis  Alison  alone  insisted  on 
its  being  inserted  in  the  minutes  of  Synod,  that  he 
judged  it  an  open  infringement  on  the  rights  of  society, 
and  of  the  members  of  Synod  as  Presbyterians,  that 
the  body  should  be  called  to  account  and  the  legality 
of  its  acts  judged  by  absent  members. 

In  the  following  year  (1743),  the  Presbytery  of  New 
York  brought  up  the  subject  again  by  overture  to  the 
Synod.  They  proposed  that  the  excluding  protest 
should  be  withdrawn,  and  the  excluded  members  re- 
sume their  seats  in  Synod;  that  candidates  for  the 
ministry  should  submit  to  the  former  agreement  of  the 
Synod  in  regard  to  examination,  or  procure  a  diploma 
from  a  New  England  college ;  that  the  pulpits  of  min- 
isters should  be  open  to  their  brethren  when  regularly 
applied  for,  and,  unless  the  reasons  for  a  refusal  should 
be  approved  by  the  Presbytery  or  Synod,  such  refusal 
should  be  regarded  as  unbrotherly  and  tending  to  divi- 
sion or  separation;  that  if  any  minister  should  imagine 
he  had  cause  to  complain  of  any  of  his  brethren,  he 


THE    PERIOD    OF    THE    DIVISION.  85 

should  first  seek  a  private  conference,  and,  if  that  failed, 
cite  him  on  specific  charges  for  trial  before  the  Presby- 
tery, Former  matters  of  difference  and  debate  in 
Synod  were  to  be  buried  in  oblivion,  and  in  case  this 
plan  of  accommodation,  or  others  that  might  be  pro- 
posed, should  fail,  the  Synod  should  unitedly  agree 
that  another  Synod  be  erected  by  the  name  of  the 
Synod  of  Kew  York,  and  liberty  be  left  to  members 
to  unite  with  either  as  they  saw  fit, — the  two  Synods 
sending  yearly  each  two  correspondents  to  the  other. 

The  overture  was  rejected  by  the  Synod,  and  Dickin- 
son, Pemberton,  Pierson,  and  Burr,  while  complaining 
"  of  no  unfriendly  or  unbrotherly  treatment"  from  the 
Synod  with  relation  to  themselves,  gave  in  a  paper  in 
which  they  declared  that  they  regarded  the  New  Bruns- 
wick Presbytery  and  its  adherents  as  fully  as  them- 
selves entitled  to  sit  as  members  of  the  Synod,  and  in 
consequence  that  they  could  not,  while  that  Presbytery 
wras  excluded,  see  their  way  clear  to  sit  and  act  as 
though  they,  with  the  members  present,  were  the 
Synod  of  Philadelphia. 

Burr  sent  at  the  same  time  to  the  New  Brunswick 
brethren  a  proposal  of  terms  for  their  admission  to 
the  Synod,  which  were  read  and  approved.  These 
terms  required  subjection  to  the  agreements  or  cen- 
sures of  Synod, — the  desisting  from  licensure  and  or- 
dination of  men  who  had  not  complied  with  the 
Synod's  rules  of  examination,  or  the  alternative  pro- 
posed in  the  Conference  of  the  previous  year, — the 
refraining  from  itinerant  intrusion,  or  the  setting  up 
new  separate  societies  within  the  bounds  of  the  Pres- 
byteries, or  fixed  pastoral  charges. — the  renunciation 
of  the  obnoxious  positions  taken  by  Gilbert  Tennent 
in  his  Nottingham  sermon,  which  took  "all  govern- 
ment out  of  the  hands  of  a  Synod  or  Presbytery,  and 
gave  it  to    any  person  of  ignorance    and    impudence 

Vol..  T.— s 


86  HISTORY    OF    PRESBYTERIANISM. 

enough  to  bring  God's  house  into  confusion/' — an 
acknowledgment  of  their  guilt  in  these  respects,  and 
"  the  dreadful  tendency"  of  their  practices  to  promote 
division  and  confusion  among  the  churches. 

If  the  excluded  brethren  had  any  thing  to  complain 
of  with  regard  to  the  members  of  the  Synod,  they  were 
to  be  welcome  to  table  charges  against  them  in  a  proper 
judicatory,  whether  the  terms  proposed  were  accept- 
able or  not,  and,  in  case  of  their  acceptance,  the  ex- 
cluded members  should  be  heartily  received. 

To  this  the  ministers  of  the  conjunct  Presbyteries 
of  New  Brunswick  and  New  Castle1  replied,  by  declaring 
that  there  could  be  no  regular  steps  taken  towards  a 
union  till  the  illegal  protest  was  withdrawn,  while  the 
paper  of  proposals  contained  "  sundry  misrepresenta- 
tions and  unreasonable  demands." 

It  was  already  in  contemplation  to  erect  another 
Synod.  Although  no  action  was  taken  in  reference  to 
it  by  the  Synod  of  Philadelphia,  their  views  were  ex- 
pressed by  a  paper  inserted  in  their  minutes.  In  this 
they  say  that  they  "  cannot  approve  and  confirm  schism 
by  Sy  nodical  authority ;"  yet "  if  our  New  York  brethren 
see  cause,  contrary  to  our  judgment  and  inclination,  to 
divide  themselves  from  us,  and  to  erect  themselves  into 
a  new  separate  body,  while  it  is  not  in  our  power  to 
hinder  them,  though  we  cannot  in  conscience  approve 
of  their  so  doing,  yet  we  hope  by  the  grace  of  God  we 
shall  sincerely  and  conscientiously  endeavor  to  cherish 
and  cultivate  a  truly  Christian  and  charitable  disposi- 
tion towards  them." 

No  further  steps  to  promote  a  reunion  were  taken 


1  The  old  New  Castle  Presbytery  was  divided  so  as  to  form  two, 
each  bearing  the  same  name, — one  the  Old  side,  the  other  the  New. 
The  latter,  of  course,  was  the  one  in  sympathy  with  the  New  Bruns- 
wick Presbytery. 


THE    PERIOD    OF    THE    DIVISION.  87 

till  1745.  Of  the  New  York  Presbytery.  Dickinson, 
Pemberton,  and  Pierson  were  present  in  Synod.  They 
bore  with  them  a  Presby  terial  commission,  desiring  the 
Synod  to  appoint  a  committee  of  conference  with  them 
for  the  removal  of  grounds  of  dissatisfaction  and  dif- 
ference. The  committee  was  appointed,  but  the  plan 
which  they  drew  up  was  one  which  the  New  York 
brethren  declared  that  they  would  not  accept.  They 
could  not  regard  it  as  a  proper  basis  of  union.  It  for- 
bade any  member  to  preach  in  another's  congregation 
without  being  invited  by  him  or  judicially  appointed 
to  it ;  while  it  declared  that  all  erections  within  the 
bounds  of  regular  congregations,  which  had  been  set 
up  by  "  itinerant  preaching  and  divisive  practices," 
should  be  deemed  contrary  to  the  peace  and  good  order 
of  the  Church,  and  not  to  be  maintained. 

The  plan  was  quite  inadmissible,  and  in  the  circum- 
stances of  the  times  was  especially  obnoxious  to  the 
New  side.  The  question  on  which  it  took  issue  was 
not  one  which  concerned  the  excluded  brethren  alone. 

The  extended  revival  of  religion  at  this  period — 
associated  in  many  minds  with  the  names  of  White- 
field  and  Tennent,  but  connected  also  with  the  labors 
of  such  men  as  Edwards  and  Bellamy — had  produced 
a  division  in  the  Church  throughout  the  land.  Some 
favored  it  and  some  opposed  it,  while  a  large  body  of 
the  more  moderate  and  discreet,  but  not  less  devoted, 
ministers  were  free  to  admit  the  irregularities  which 
it  occasioned,  while  they  stood  ready  to  vindicate  the 
good  which  it  had  accomplished.  The  verdict  of  im- 
partial history  must  pronounce  it,  with  some  qualifica- 
tions, a  powerful  movement  for  good.  If  it  sometimes 
burnt  the  standing  corn,  it  consumed  an  immense  mass 
of  stubble.  Vital  religion  all  over  the  land  was  strength- 
ened by  it.  Hundreds  and  even  thousands  of  souls 
were  converted.     The  pulpit  was  armed  with  a  new 


88  HISTORY    OF    PRESBYTERIANISM. 

power.  A  dead  orthodoxy  was  quickened  to  life,  ai  d 
a  genuine  reformation  was  in  many  cases  the  result. 

But  neither  the  movement  nor  the  opposition  to  it 
was  confined  to  the  limits  of  the  Presbyterian  Church. 
They  extended  alike  to  New  England.  Some  of  the 
Boston  ministers  opposed  the  revival.  They  preached 
and  published  against  it.  The  Legislature  of  Connec- 
ticut, in  1742,  at  the  instigation  of  certain  ministers, 
enacted  that  any  clergyman  who  should  preach  in  any 
parish  not  under  his  immediate  charge,  without  invita- 
tion from  the  settled  minister  or  a  majority  of  the 
congregation,  should  forfeit  his  salary  and  be  bound  to 
'peaceable  and  good  behavior  in  the  full  sum  of  one  hun- 
dred pounds  lawful  money  until  the  next  court.  Non- 
residents, not  licensed  by  an  association,  were  liable  to 
arrest  by  any  magistrate  as  common  vagrants,  to  be  sent 
out  of  the  colony.1  Nor  was  the  law  suffered  to 
remain  a  dead  letter.  Davenport  and  Dr.  Finley 
(President  of  Princeton  College  at  a  later  date)  were 
banished  under  this  act,  and  Pomeroy  (of  Hebron)  and 
others  deprived  of  their  salaries.  In  1743,  all  the 
pulpits  of  New  Haven  county  were  closed  against  the 
ministers  of  New  Brunswick  Presbytery.  To  have 
accepted  or  endorsed  the  plan  of  the  Old  side,  would 
have  been  regarded  as  a  guilty  acquiescence  in  the 
injustice. 

There  was  therefore  now  no  longer  any  hope  of  re- 
conciling the  two  parties.  It  only  remained  to  proceed 
to  the  erection  of  a  new  Synod.  The  New  York 
brethren  could  not  remain  in  a  connection  from  which 
their  New  Brunswick  brethren  were  illegally  debarred. 
This  was  distinctly  understood,  and,  in  view  of  it,  the 
Synod  of  Philadelphia  declared,  "  it  particularly  af- 
fects us,  that  some  of  our  New  York  brethren  do  not 

1  Trumbull's  History,  ii.  103. 


THE    PERIOD    OF    THE    DIVISION.  89 

at  present  see  their  way  clear  to  continue  in  Synodical 
communion  with  us."  Yet,  in  view  of  their  proposed 
erectioD  of  a  new  Synod,  they  desired   to  declare,  "in 

the  most  friendly  way  possible,"  that  if  the  project 
was  carried  out,  they  should  "  endeavor  to  maintain 
charitable  and  Christian  affections  towards  them,  and 
show  the  same  upon  all  occasions  by  such  correspond- 
ence and  fellowship"  as  they  should  "  think  duty  and 
consistent  with  a  good  conscience."  Accordingly,  in 
September,  1745,  the  New  Brunswick  party  and  the 
members  of  the  New  York  Presbytery  met  at  Eliza- 
beth town,  N.J.,  and  formed  themselves  into  the  Synod 
of  New  York.  For  the  New  York  members  no  other 
course  was  left  open.  They  could  not  approve  the  ex- 
clusion of  the  New  Brunswick  Presbytery  by  an  illegal 
protest,  yet  their  continued  adherence  to  the  Synod  of 
Philadelphia  would  seem  to  endorse  it.  Nor  was  it  a 
light  matter,  in  their  esteem,  that  the  latter  body  by  its 
public  declarations  and  in  the  popular  judgment  had 
set  itself  in  opposition  to  the  revival,  by  opposing  its 
methods  and  speaking  of  it  in  their  public  acts  in  a 
tone  of  depreciation.  However  theyr  might  disapprove 
the  course  of  the  New  Brunswick  party  on  some  points, 
they  were  in  strong  sympathy  with  them  in  regard  to 
their  estimate  of  the  revival  itself  as  a  wonderful  ex- 
hibition of  the  power  and  grace  of  God. 

Yet,  in  uniting  with  them  to  form  the  Synod,  they 
were  careful  to  guard  against  those  causes  of  division 
and  offence  which  had  occasioned  in  great  part  the 
division  of  1741.  The  principles  upon  which  they  con- 
sented to  unite  distinctly  condemned  insubordination 
to  the  rules  and  agreements  of  Synod.  It*  any  one  felt 
himself  aggrieved  by  these,  and  could  not  in  conscience 
submit  to  them,  he  was  peaceably  to  withdraw,  with- 
out raising  dispute  or  contention  upon  the  debated 
point,    or   unjust   alienation    of    affection    among    the 

8* 


90  HISTORY    OF    PRESBYTERIAN  SM. 

members.  Supposed  errors  in  doctrine  or  in  conduct 
were  not  to  be  a  subject  for  scandal,  but  discipline. 
"  Factious  separating  practices  or  principles"  were  by 
no  means  to  be  encouraged ;  yet  all  who  were  of  com- 
petent knowledge,  orthodox  in  doctrine,  regular  in  life, 
and  diligent  in  promoting  vital  godliness,  should  be 
cheerfully  admitted  to  their  communion.  To  avoid 
divisive  methods  and  to  strengthen  the  discipline  of 
Christ  in  the  churches,  a  correspondence  was  to  be 
maintained  with  the  Synod  of  Philadelphia,  by  appoint- 
ing two  members  who  were  "  to  concert  with  them  such 
measures  as  may  best  promote  the  precious  interests 
of  Christ's  kingdom  in  these  parts."  The  basis  of  the 
new  body  was  the  agreement  that  the  Westminster 
Confession  of  Faith,  with  the  Catechisms,  "be  the  pub- 
lic confession  of  their  faith  in  such  manner  as  was 
agreed  unto  by  the  Synod  of  Philadelphia  in  1729." 
The  Directory  of  the  "Westminster  Assembly  was  ap- 
proved as  "the  general  plan  of  worship  and  discipline." 
In  the  Synod  as  thus  constituted,  three  Presbyteries 
— New  York,  New  Brunswick,  and  New  Castle — were 
represented.  From  the  first,  there  were  Dickinson, 
Pierson,  Pembcrton,  Burr,  the  two  Hortons,  Timothy 
Johnes,  Eliab  Byram,  and  Eobert  Sturgeon.  Of  New 
Brunswick,  besides  Gilbert  and  William  Tennent,  there 
were  Eobert  Treat,  Joseph  Lamb,  James  McCrea,  Wil- 
liam Eobinson,  David  Youngs,  Charles  Beatty,  and 
Charles  McKnight.  Of  New  Castle,  there  were  the 
two  Blairs, — Samuel  and  John, — Charles  Tennent,  and 
Samuel  Finley.  Johnes  was  of  Welsh  descent,  but  a 
native  of  Southampton,  L.I.  He  was  a  graduate  of 
Yale,  and  in  1742  commenced  at  Mnrristown  a  ministry 
of  many  years,  and  one  which  was  remarkably  blessed. 
Byram  was  a  Massachusetts  man,  a  warm  friend  of 
Brainerd,  and  was  setttled  at  Mendham  in  1743.  Stur- 
geon was  probably  at  Bedford,  in  West  Chester  county, 


THE    TERIOD    OF   THE    DIVISION.  01 

N.Y..  where,  although  from  Scotland,  he  had  gone  as  a 
licentiate  of  a  New  England  council.  Lamb,  for  many 
years  at  Mattituck,  L.I.,  had  Ik-cm  called  to  Basking- 
ridge,  and  joined  the  New  Brunswick  Presbytery  in 
1744.  McCrea  and  Robinson  had  been  educated  at  the 
Log  College, — the  first  now  settled  at  Lamington, 
where  he  had  gathered  a  church,  and  the  latter  just  in 
full  career  as  a  pioneer  missionary  of  Presbyterianism 
in  Virginia  and  the  Carolinas.1  Finley,  Youngs,  and 
M c Knight  were  all  ordained  by  the  New  Brunswick 
Presbytery  in  1742.  Finley  was  at  Nottingham  (Mary- 
land), where  his  school,  until  he  was  called  to  succeed 
Davies  in  the  presidency  at  Princeton,  was  highly  cele- 
brated. Youngs,  a  native  of  Southold,  and  a  classmate 
at  Yale  of  Buell  and  Brainerd,  was  settled  at  Setauket 
in  1 742.  McKnight  was  settled  at  Cranberry  and  Allen- 
town. 

The  name  of  Beatty  is  associated  with  that  of  the 
founder  of  the  Log  College,  whom  he  succeeded  at 
Ncshaminy.  Although  a  native  of  Ireland,  and  yet 
but  a  boy  when  he  reached  this  country,  he  had  re- 
ceived a  classical  education;  and  it  is  not  altogether 
improbable  that  during  his  stay  in  New  England,  where 
lie  remained  for  two  years,  or  at  Goshen  and  Wall  Kill, 
N.Y.,  to  which  places  the  family  removed,  he  may  have 
prosecuted  his  studies,  under  pastoral  supervision,  with 
renewed  diligence. 

As  he  grew  up  to  manhood,  he  engaged  in  trade.  As 
the  manner  of  the  day  often  was,  he  travelled  with  his 
goods.  On  foot,  or  with  his  pack-horse,  he  wTent  forth 
to  display  his  "  auld-warld  gear"  to  the  people  in  their 
own  homes.2  In  the  course  of  his  wanderings,  he 
reached  Neshaminy.  At  the  Log  College,  Tennent  and 
his  pupils   were   surprised  b}T  a  pedlar  proffering  bin 

1  Afterward  settled  at  St.  George's,  Del.        2  Sprague's  Annals. 


92  HISTORY    OF   PRESBYTERIANISM. 

merchandise  to  them  in  Latin.  Tennent  replied;  and 
the  conversation  was  carried  on  in  the  Latin  tongue, 
with  such  evidence  of  scholarship,  religious  knowledge, 
and  fervent  piety  on  the  part  of  the  pedlar,  that  Ten- 
nent  commanded  him  to  sell  what  he  had  and  prepare 
for  the  ministry.  Beatty  was  disposed  to  comply.  He 
studied  at  Neshaminy,  was  licensed  in  1742,  and  in  less 
than  a  year  was  called  to  take  the  place  of  Tennent 
himself. 

Thus,  within  the  four  years  that  had  intervened  from 
the  separation  to  the  formation  of  the  New  York 
Synod,  the  New  Brunswick  Presbytery  had  gathered 
around  it  a  noble  band  of  young  men,  animated  with 
the  spirit  of  the  revival  and  eager  to  go  forth  to  their 
work.  As  the  Synod  was  formed,  the  field  to  be  occu- 
pied was  greatly  extended.  Applications  for  ministers 
and  missionaries  came  from  afar, — from  Virginia  and  the 
Carolinas.  Extraordinary  efforts  were  made  to  meet 
the  demand.  A  large  number  of  the  ministers,  espe- 
cially the  younger  portion  of  them,  were  sent  out 
repeatedly  on  missionary  tours. 

The  Old  side  had  also  received  some  accessions. 
In  1742,  John  Guild,  Samuel  Evans,  and  Alexander 
McDowell  were  ordained.  The  first  was  a  native  of 
Massachusetts,  a  graduate  of  Harvard,  and  was  settled 
at  Hopewell;  Evans  was  the  son  of  the  Evans  of  the 
"Welsh  Tract.  McDowell,  who  afterward  took  charge 
of  the  Synod's  school,  is  said  to  have  come  from  Vir- 
ginia, and  to  have  settled  at  Nottingham  in  1743-44. l 

Bell,  Hindman,  and  Griffith  were  ordained  in  1743, 
by  the  Old  side.  Neither  proved  to  be  of  much  ser- 
vice.    Bell  had  been  educated  at  the  Log  College.    He 

1  This  is  questionable,  however.  Dr.  Finley  settled  at  Not- 
ingham  in  1744,  and  remained  there  seven  years.  See  Allen's 
Biographical  Dictionary, 


THE    PERIOD    OF    THE    DIVISION.  93 

adhered  to  the  Old  Bide,  but,  in  little  more  than  a  twelve- 
month after  his  ordination,  renounced  all  connection 
with  Presbytery.     Kindman   labored  for  a  short  time 

as  a  missionary  in  Virginia.  Griffith  succeeded  Thomas 
Evans  at  Pencader.1  He  died  some  time  after  L751, 
when  he  was  a  missionary  in  Virginia. 

In  the  following  year.  John  Steel  and  James  Scongal 
were  the  only  accessions  received.  Both  were  from 
[reland:  the  first,  from  Londonderry  Presbytery,  set- 
tled at  New  London,  and  the  other,  from  the  Presby- 
tery of  Paisley,  took  charge  of  the  Old-side  congrega- 
tion of  Snow  Hill. 

Thus,  in  the  four  years  that  had  elapsed  since  the 
division,  the  New  Brunswick  party  had  gained  vastly 
upon  the  Old  side.  Long  Island  Presbytery,  some  por- 
tions of  which  strongly  sympathized  with  the  Tennents, 
had  furnished  it  several  candidates.  Davenport,  with 
all  his  extravagances,  had  "  a  zeal  for  God  and  the  con- 
version of  men  that  was  scarce  to  be  paralleled;"  and 
he  and  those  who  were  under  his  influence  did  much  to 
strengthen  the  popularity  of  the  New  side.  The  New 
York  Presbytery  would  have  decidedly  turned  the 
scales  in  its  favor,  if  they  had  been  even  before. 

In  the  thirteen  years  that  followed,  from  the  erection 
of  the  Synod  of  New  York  in  1745  to  the  reunion  of 
the  Synods  in  1758,  the  preponderance  was  increasingly 
in  favor  of  the  New  side.  Samuel  Davies,  the  great 
pulpit  orator,  and  President  of  Princeton  College,  who 
commenced  his  ministry  in  1747,  was  in  himself  a  host. 
John  Brainerd  (1748)  was  the  worthy  brother  of  the 
great  missionary  to  the  Indians ;  and  his  name  would 
have  done  honor  to  an}r  Church."    Samuel  Blair,  senior, 


1  So  stated  by  Webster,  p.  483. 

2  Settled    in  Deerfield,  West  Jersey,  and  missionary  to  the   In- 
dians. 


94  HISTORY    OF    PRESBYTERIANISM. 

at  Fagg's  Manor,  bad  commenced  his  school,  and  had 
begun  to  send  out  men  well  qualified  for  the  work  of 
the  ministry.  John  Eodgers,  afterward  the  associate 
of  Davies,  and  pastor  at  New  York,  was  one  of  his 
pupils.1  He  studied  theology  with  Gilbert  Tennent, 
and  in  1749  commenced  his  labors  on  the  early  field  of 
Presbyterian  effort  in  this  country,  the  Eastern  Shore 
of  Maryland.2  Elihu  Spencer,  one  of  the  ablest  men 
whose  names  adorn  the  Presbyterian  annals,  was  mis- 
sionary to  the  Oneidas  in  1748,  and  succeeded  Dickin- 
son, at  Elizabethtown,  in  1750,  and  Eodgers,  at  St 
George's,  in  1766.3 

Samuel  Buell,  whom  the  New  Haven  Association 
classed  with  Brainerd  among  "  strolling  preachers  that 
were  most  disorderly,"  had  settled  at  East  Hampton  in 
1746,  and  in  the  following  year  helped  to  form  the  Suf- 
folk Presbytery.  He  was  a  man  of  powerful  and  pun- 
gent address,  and  nearly  one  hundred  were  added  to 
his  church  at  a  single  communion  season.  In  1751, 
Naphtali  Daggett,  afterward  President  of  Yale  Col- 
lege, was  settled  at  Smithtown,  L.I.  John  Todd,  who 
was  called  to  wear  the  mantle  of  Davies  on  his  depart- 
ure for  England,  and  again  on  his  removal  to  Prince- 
ton, entered  upon  his  Virginia  field  and  was  installed 
by  Hanover  Presbytery  in  1751. 

In  the  same  year,  Eobert  Smith,  under  whom  so 
many  of  the  ministers  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  sub- 
sequently received  their  theological  education,  was  in- 
stalled at  Pequa,  and  the  earlier  years  of  his  ministry 


1  Others    were   Alexander   Curamings,    President   Davies,  James 
Finley,  and  Hugh  Henry. 

2  Life  of  Rodgers,  p.  54.     Subsequently  he  was  at  St.  George's, 
and  Middletown,  Del. 

8  Webster,  588.    Spencer   performed   much   missionary  labor  in 
the  Southern  States. 


THE    TERIOD    OF    THE    DIVISION.  95 

were  signally  blessed.  In  1756,  George  Duffield,  who 
had  been  educated  at  Nassau  Kail,  and  had  served  as 
tutor  there  for  two  years,  commenced  his  ministerial 
career.  Besides  these,  at  the  time  of  the  reunion,  the 
Synod  of  New  York  had  upon  its  list  of  members  the 
names  of  Whitaker;  Kettletas,  of  Jamaica;  Thane,  of 
Connecticut  Farms;  Richards,  of  Bah  way;  Smith, 
of  Orange;  Lewis,  of  IIopewTell  and  Maidenhead,  after- 
ward of  Mendham ;  Kennedy,  of  Baskingridge ;  Hait, 
of  Amwell ;  Chesnut,  of  Charlestown  and  New  Provi- 
dence; Martin,  of  Newtown  and  Salisbury;  Lawrence, 
of  the  Forks  of  the  Delaware,  afterward  of  Cape 
May;  Arthur,  wrho  succeeded  Tennent  at  NewT  Bruns- 
wick, when  the  latter  removed  in  1744  to  the  Second 
Church  in  Philadelphia;  Hunter,  of  Greenwich  and 
Deerfield;  Jacob  Green,  of  Hanover,  N.J. ;  Greenman,of 
Pilesgrove;  Ramsey,  of  Fairfield;  Roan,  associated  with 
Robinson  and  Blair  in  the  missionary  work  in  Virginia, 
where  his  zeal  seems  to  have  exceeded  his  discretion 
and  to  have  drawn  reproach  upon  his  party;  Tuttle,  of 
Kent  county,  Del. ;  Harris,  of  Indian  River,  near  Lewis; 
Prime,  long  settled  at  Huntingdon,  L.I.,  but  not  till 
1747  a  member  of  Presbytery;  Brown,  of  Bridgehamp- 
ton;  Sylvanus  White,  of  Southampton,  and  son  of 
the  venerable  Ebenezer  White;  Talmadge,  of  Brook- 
haven  ;  Reeve,  of  Moriches,  father  of  the  celebrated 
Tapping  Reeve,  at  the  head  of  the  Law  School  at 
Litchfield;  Ball,  of  Bedford  ;  Smith,  of  Rye  and  White 
Plains;  Sackett,  of  Peekskill,  or  Cortland  Manor; 
Ayres,  of  Blooming  Grove,  a  pupil  of  Bellamy,  and  first 
on  the  roll  of  the  alumni  of  Nassau  Hall ;  Graham,  of 
Poughkeepsie ;  Moffat,  of  Wall  Kill ;  Elmer,  of  New 
Providence,1  N.J. ;  Hugh  Knox,  a  pupil  probably  of 
President  A.  Burr,  and,  singularly  enough,  the  teacher  of 

1  Webster,  609. 


96  HISTORY    OF   PRESBYTERIANISM. 

Alexander  Hamilton  j  Maltby,  for  some  time  tutor  at 
Nassau  Hall,  and  afterward  pastor  of  a  church  in  Ber- 
muda; Keed,  of  Bound  Brook,  the  first  member  of  Nas- 
sau Hall  who  became  a  member  of  Synod  ;  Worts,  of 
the  High-Dutch  Congregation  of  Rockaway;  Henry, 
of  Rehoboth,  Wicomoco,  and  Monokin,  a  graduate  of 
Nassau  Hall,  and  a  pupil  of  Samuel  Blair;  Campbell,  of 
Tehicken,  afterward  of  South  Carolina ;  Bay,  of  Round 
Hill,  and  Marsh  Creek,  Pa.;  John  Hoge,  of  Cedar 
Creek,  one  of  the  pioneer  laborers  in  Virginia;  Ster- 
ling, of  Upper  Octorara;  McAden,  one  of  the  pioneer 
laborers  in  the  Carolinas;  Robert  Henry,  of  Cub  Creek, 
Prince  Edward  county,  Virginia;  and  John  Martin,  of 
Albemarle,  a  pupil  of  Davies,  afterward  a  missionary 
to  the  Cherokees,  and  finally  settling  in  South  Caro- 
lina. 

A  mere  list  of  the  names  and  places  of  settlement  of 
these  men  shows  the  rapid  extension  of  the  Presby- 
terian Church,  as  represented  by  the  New  side,  both 
at  the  North  and  South.  In  Orange  and  Dutchess 
counties,  N.Y.,  on  Long  Island,  within  the  very  bounds 
of  the  Old  side  in  New  Jersey  and  Pennsylvania,  in 
Virginia  and  the  Carolinas,  there  was  a  rapid  increase 
of  the  New-side  ministers.  Indeed,  the  Synod  of  New 
York  had  great  advantages,  in  securing  supplies,  over 
the  Synod  of  Philadelphia.  Nearly,  if  not  full,  one- 
half  of  the  ministers  added  to  it,  during  the  period  pre- 
vious to  the  reunion,  were  from  New  England;  and 
Nassau  Hall  was  already  established  and  sending  out 
graduates,  who  were  justifying  the  fond  anticipations 
of  its  founders. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  Old  side  had  great  difficulties 
to  encounter.  Their  opposition  to  revivals  seems  to 
have  wellnigh  paralyzed  the  spiritual  vigor  both  of 
pastors  and  churches.  Their  own  candidates  for  the 
ministry  were  few  in  number,  and  the  tide  from  Ire- 


THE    PERIOD    OF    THE    DIVISION.  07 

land  had  already  begun  to  ebb.  The  sympathies  of  the 
foreign  churches  were  by  no  means  altogether  on  their 
side,  especially  after  the  mission  of  Tennent  and  Davies 
to  England  and  Scotland  in  behalf  of  Nassau  Hall. 
They  wrote  to  Scotland  for  ministers,  but  few  came. 
They  corresponded  with  President  Clap,  of  New  Haven, 
and  entertained  him  with  their  complaints  of  the  New 
side,  and  their  condemnation  of  the  proceedings  which 
issued  in  ordaining  Brainerd,  on  his  expulsion  from 
Yale,  for  the  mission  work  among  the  Indians.  To 
Dickinson  and  the  founders  of  Nassau  Hall,  such  cor- 
respondence, uniting  the  sympathies  of  the  Old  side 
and  the  opponents  of  revivals  at  New  Haven,  was  only 
a  new  argument  in  favor  of  prosecuting  the  task  of 
establishing  a  college  at  Princeton. 

But  the  Old  side  derived  little  real  advantage  from 
it.  President  Clap  might  sanction  their  devotion  to  the 
cause  of  order,  but  he  could  not  send  them  the  men 
who  could  cope  in  zeal  with  Brainerd,  McKnight,  Buell. 
Spencer,  Graham,  Daggett,  Youngs,  Bostwick,  Arthur, 
and  Davenport, — all  of  them  graduates  of  Yale,  and 
carrying  with  them  to  the  New  side  the  fervor  and 
active  zeal  of  Whitefield  and  the  Tennents,  from  whoso 
lips  some  of  them  had  caught  the  flame. 

Yet  the  Old  side  put  forth  honorable  efforts  in  the 
cause  of  learning  and  ministerial  education.  It  would 
have  been  inconsistent  with  their  professions  not  to 
have  done  so.  They  commenced  a  Synodical  school 
under  Alison,  the  best  scholar  on  their  side,  and  con- 
tinued it  for  several  years.  Some  of  their  best  men 
were  trained  in  it. 

But  the  list  of  accessions  which  they  received  before 
the  reunion  was  small,  compared  with  that  of  the  New 
side.  In  1745-G,  they  received  on  Synodical  examination, 
Thorn,  afterward  settled  at  Chesnut  Level;  John  Dick, 
who  took  charge  of  Drawycrs  and  Appoquinimy ;  Ham- 

Vol.  I.— 9 


98  HISTORY   OF   PRESBYTERIANISM. 

ilton,  of  Kehoboth  and  Monokin;  and  Hector  Alison, 
who  succeeded  Dick  at  Drawyers  and  Appoquinimy, 
and  afterward  settled  at  Williamsburg,  South  Carolina. 
From  1748  to  1754,  the  only  new  members  added  to 
the  Synod,  who  remained  for  any  length  of  time  in  its 
connection,  were  Joseph  Tate,  of  Silver  Spring,  Marsh 
Creek,  and  Donegal ;  Sampson  Smith,  succeeding 
Thorn  in  1752  at  Chesnut  Level;  JRobert  McMordie,  of 
Upper  Marsh  Creek,  and  Round  Hill;  Evander  Mor- 
rison, of  Middle  Octorara  ',  and  John  Miller,  of  Duck 
Creek.1  The  only  other  members  who  united  with  the 
Old  side,  previous  to  the  reunion,  tbat  deserve  men- 
tion, were  John  Kinkead,  of  Chester  and  Montgomery 
counties,  Pa.;2  Alexander  Miller,  who  settled  in  the 
Great  Valley,  Ya., — neither  of  whom  reflects  honor 
upon  the  party  to  which  both  belonged ; — and  William 
McKennan  and  Matthew  Wilson,  the  first  settled  at 
Wilmington  and  Eed  Clay,  and  the  latter  at  Lewes 
and  Cold  Spring,  Del. 

Of  all  the  members  who  united  with  both  Synods, 
from  1745  to  1758,  only  twelve  are  known  to  have  been 
from  Scotland,  nine  from  Ireland,  three  from  England, 
nine  from  New  York  and  the  Middle  States,  while 
nearly  thirty  were  from  New  England  and  Long 
Island.     Of  the  twenty  others,  of  whom  passing  men- 

1  Dover,  St.  Jones,  and  "People  of  Kent,"  are  all  the  same 
congregation, — Dover.  This  congregation  is  on  the  Records  in 
1714,  and  Mr.  Anderson,  of  New  Castle,  is  ordered  to  supply  them : 
then  Henry  Hook,  in  1723.  The  first  pastor  was  Archibald  Cook, 
installed  June  7,  1727;  died  September  7,  1729.  Mr.  Hook  was 
ordered  to  supply  Kent  in  1725  and  1726,  and  also  to  preach  at 
Duck  Creek  (Smyrna,  Del.)  occasionally  in  1726.  This  is  the 
origin  of  Duck  Creek  Church. 

2  In  the  minutes  of  Synod  for  1753,  p.  210,  we  read,  "A  mem- 
ber of  the  congregation  of  Norrington  applied  to  the  Synod,  sup- 
plicating the  ordination  of  Mr.  Kinkead,  as  fast  as  the  stated  rules 
and  methods  used  in  our  Presbyteries  will  permit." 


THE    PERIOD    Off    THE    DIVISION.  99 

tion  is  made,  some  remained  but  a  short  time  in  this 
country,  while  the  place  of  the  others'  nativity  is  for 
the  most  part  unknown. 

The  increase  of  membership  of  the  New  side  from 
these  various  sources — mainly  from  New  England  and 
Scotland — was  to  that  of  the  Old  side  nearly  as  eight  to 
one.  They  secured  the  sympathy  of  all  the  friends  of 
the  revival,  and  manifested  great  energy  in  the  supply 
of  the  destitute  and  missionary  fields  within  the  bounds 
of  the  Church. 

The  prospects  of  the  Old  side  were  rendered  more 
discouraging  from  the  sudden  check  given  to  Irish 
emigration.  With  all  the  sympathy  of  President  Clap, 
they  secured  but  one  or  two  ministers  from  New  Eng- 
land, not  more  than  two  or  three  from  Scotland,  while 
most  of  the  number  added  were  their  own  licentiates. 

In  these  circumstances  they  became  continually  less 
indisposed  to  a  reunion.  Especially  was  this  the  case 
after  the  erection  of  the  Synod  of  New  York;  the  con- 
stitution of  which  embodied  some  of  the  most  import- 
ant principles  for  which  the  Old  side  had  contended, 
and  to  which  the  New  Brunswick  party,  on  mature 
deliberation,  chose  to  submit.  Indeed,  in  Burr's  pro- 
posal for  union,  laid  before  the  Synod  of  Philadelphia 
in  1745,  and  which  embodies  the  principles  adopted  a 
few  months  afterward  in  the  constitution  of  the  New 
York  Synod,  he  said,  "  We  think  that  a  subscription  of 
these  Articles  (the  agreements  of  the  Synod)  will  be  a 
renouncing  disorder  and  divisive  practice,  and,  when 
obtained,  will  lay  a  foundation  for  maintaining  peace, 
truth,  and  good  order,  which  was  what  was  desired  in 
the  protest  by  which  the  Brunswick  brethren  stand 
excluded." 

The  grounds  of  division  were  thus  much  narrowed. 
They  were,  in  fact,  reduced  to  the  mode  of  subscrip- 
tion and  the  protest  itself.     The  New  York  Synod  dis- 


100  HISTORY   OF    TRESBYTERIANISM. 

tinctly  required,  that  if  any  member  objected  to  the 
life  or  doctrine  of  another,  he  should  not  spread  abroad 
popular  rumors  to  his  prejudice,  but  table  charges 
before  the  proper  judicatory.  If  one  could  not  con- 
scientiously submit  to  the  agreements  of  Synod,  he 
should  peaceably  withdraw.  Factious,  separating  prin- 
ciples or  practices  were  to  be  discouraged,  and  no  one 
was  to  intermeddle  with  parties  separating  from  Pres- 
byterian or  Congregational  churches  within  their 
bounds. 

In  accepting  these  terms  of  communion,  the  New 
Brunswick  brethren  virtually  renounced  all  the  obnox- 
ious positions  which  they  had  hitherto  maintained. 
The  way  was  thus  opened  for  proposals  of  union  from 
both  parties.  They  came  in  the  first  instance  from  the 
Synod  of  New  York.  This  body  wished  to  secure  from 
the  united  Synod  a  declaration  in  favor  of  the  revival 
as  a  "  work  of  God's  glorious  grace," — one  something 
like  that  which  they  had  made  themselves  at  their  first 
meeting  at  Elizabethtown.  To  this  the  Synod  of  Phila- 
delphia objected,  and  the  Synod  of  New  York  did  not 
insist  absolutely  upon  this  point.  In  1745-49,  and 
nearly  every  successive  year  afterward,  proposals  were 
made,  or  communications  interchanged.  A  commis- 
sion was  appointed,  composed  of  members  of  both 
Synods,  who  met  at  Trenton  in  1749.  The  three  points 
of  difference  were  the  protest,  the  paragraph  about 
essentials,  and  the  constituting  of  the  Presbyteries  on 
the  union  of  the  Synods.  These  points  were  discussed 
from  year  to  year-  In  regard  to  the  protest,  the  New 
York  Synod  insisted  that  "  by  some  authentic  and 
formal  act  of  the  Synod  of  Philadelphia"  it  should  "  be 
made  null  and  void."  This  the  Synod  of  Philadelphia 
refused ;  and  the  matter  was  finally  settled  by  their 
declaring  that  the  protest  was  the  act  of  the  individual 
members  who  signed   it,  for  which   they  were  alone 


THE    PERIOD    OF    THE    DIVISION.  101 

responsible :  it  was  not,  and  should  not  be  considered 
the  act  of  the  Synod.  In  this  view  of  the  subject,  tho 
Synod  of  New  York  had  nothing  further  to  object. 

The  "paragraph  about  essentials"  was  one  to  which 
the  Old  side  attached  much  importance.  It  had  doubt- 
less been  much  insisted  upon  by  the  Presbyteries,  who 
were  instructed  by  the  Synod  to  consider  the  terms  of 
union,  and  give  in  what  they  thought  necessary  to  the 
Old-side  members  of  the  commission  that  was  to  meet 
at  Trenton.  The  difficulty  was  not  with  subscription 
to  the  terms  of  the  Adopting  Act  of  1729,  but  subscrip- 
tion "  according  to  our  last  (1730)  explication  of  the 
Adopting  Act,  without  the  least  variation  or  altera- 
tion." This  point  was  one  adhered  to,  not  so  much 
from  tenacity  for  orthodox  doctrine  as  from  zeal  for 
orderly  practice.  In  the  protest  of  1741,  it  is  the  viola- 
tion of  the  thirty -first  article  (on  Synods  and  Councils) 
of  which  the  protestants  complain.  It  was  this  which 
they  said  the  New  Brunswick  brethren  "pretend  to 
adopt."  But,  in  their  zeal  for  order  and  subjection 
to  the  authority  of  Synod,  they  went  too  far.  They 
would  have  violated  the  spirit  of  the  Adopting  Act  by 
a  rigid  interpretation  of  their  "last  explication."  In 
establishing  the  principles  of  authority,  they  would 
have  made  every  line  and  letter  of  the  Confession  infal- 
lible as  the  Scriptures  themselves,  instead  of  the  whole 
the  embodiment  of  the  system  of  Scripture  truth. 

This,  therefore,  was  a  point  on  which  the  Synod  of 
New  York  could  not  yield  to  the  Old  side.  With 
regard  to  order  and  authority  they  had  taken  the 
same  ground  already  with  them;  but,  with  a  broader 
view  of  "  the  paragraph  about  essentials,"  they  dis- 
tinctly said  (1753),  "  Difference  in  judgment  should  not 
oblige  a  dissenting  member  to  withdraw  from  our  com- 
munion, unless  the  matter  were  judged  by  the  body  to 
be  essential   in   doctrine   <>r  discipline.     And   this   we 


102  HISTORY   OF   PRESBYTERIANISM. 

must  own  is  an  important  article  with  us,  which  we 
cannot  any  way  dispense  with.  And  it  appears  to  us 
to  be  strictly  Christian  and  scriptural,  as  well  as  Pres- 
byterian, otherwise  we  must  make  every  thing  that 
appears  plain  duty  to  us  a  term  of  communion,  which 
we  apprehend  the  Scripture  prohibits.  And  it  appears 
plain  to  us,  that  there  may  be  many  opinions  relating 
to  the  great  truths  of  religion  that  are  not  great  them- 
selves, nor  of  sufficient  importance  to  be  made  terms 
of  communion.  Nor  can  these  sentiments  '  open  a 
door  to  an  unjustifiable  latitude  in  principles  and  prac- 
tices,' any  more  than  the  apostolic  prohibition  of  receiv- 
ing those  that  are  weak  to  doubtful  disputations.  What 
is  plain  sin  and  plain  duty  in  one's  account  is  not  so  in 
another's;  and  the  Synod  has  still  in  their  power  to 
judge  what  is  essential  and  what  is  not.  In  order  to 
prevent  an  unjustifiable  latitude,  we  must  not  make 
terms  of  communion  which  Christ  has  not  made;  and 
we  are  convinced  that  he  hath  not  made  every  truth 
and  every  duty  a  term." 

These  were  the  noble  sentiments,  fearlessly  avowed 
and  eloquently  advocated,  of  the  New  side.  These 
they  could  not  consent  to  yield.  Union  or  no  union, 
they  could  not  purchase  the  desired  result  by  a  com- 
promise which  bound  them  to  a  rigid  interpretation  of 
the  last  explication  of  the  Adopting  Act,  and  which 
placed  the  letter  above  the  spirit  of  the  Confession  and 
on  the  same  level  of  authority  with  the  letter  of  the 
divine  word. 

In  regard  to  Presbyteries,  the  New  side  insisted  that 
they  should  remain  constituted  as  they  were  at  present 
till  the  way  was  open  for  a  change  for  the  better, — till 
"  a  favorable  opportunity  of  advantageous  alteration." 
The  Old  side  were  not  disposed  to  yield  this  point. 
They  were  anxious  to  have  "  indemnity  for  the  past" 
as  well  as  security  for  the  future,  either  by  the  disband- 


THE   TERIOD    OF   THE    DIVISION".  103 

ing  of  separate  congregations,  or  their  union  under  the 
pastor  of  the  Old  side. 

This  was  indeed  &  difficult  matter  to  settle;  and  it 
was  evident  that  no  Synodieal  arrangements  would  at 
once  secure  harmony  or  remove  old  differences.  These, 
time  and  charity  alone  could  heal.  Yet  the  Synod  of 
Philadelphia  proposed  (1751)  that  "  all  names  of  dis- 
tinction should  be  forever  abolished,  and  that  Presby- 
teries be  made  up  everywhere  of  ministers  contiguous 
to  each  other/'  so  that  there  should  be  no  more  "  such 
party  names  as  old  and  new  Presbyteries,  old  and  new 
congregations." 

This  was  all  well  enough  in  theory;  but  the  Synod 
of  New  York  justly  replied,  that  it  seemed  a  "jarring 
discord  to  force  people"  into  a  union  "faster  than  they 
had  clearness  to  go."  The  "favorable  opportunity" 
they  did  not  apprehend  would  occur  immediately  upon 
the  union  of  the  Synods. 

Thus,  on  the  last  point  the  two  parties  were  not 
agreed.  Instead  of  sending  a  reply,  the  Synod  of  Phila- 
delphia (1754),  noting  "  a  very  pacific  temper  in  the 
members  of  both  Synods,"  proposed  a  conference.  This 
resulted  in  the  approval,  by  the  Synod  of  Philadelphia, 
of  a  plan  of  union  of  the  two  Synods  as  (now  "two 
distinct  judicatures")  "two  contiguous  bodies  of  Chris- 
tians, agreed  in  principle,  as  though  they  had  never 
been  concerned  with  one  another  before,  nor  had  any 
differences,  which  is  the  truth  as  to  great  part  of  both 
Synods,  and  should  now  join  the  Synods  and  Presby- 
teries upon  such  scriptural  and  rational  terms  as  may 
secure  peace  and  good  order,  tend  to  heal  our  broken 
churches,  and  advance  religion  hereafter." 

Thus,  in  1755,  every  thing  seemed  in  a  fair  way  to 
union.  In  the  following  year,  although  the  Synod  of 
New  York  had  not  obtained  full  satisfaction  in  regard 
to  the  protest,  they  acceded  to  the  request  of  the  Synod 


104  HISTORY    OF    PRESBYTERIANISM. 

of  Philadelphia  to  appoint  a  Committee  of  Conference. 
Both  the  Tennents, — Gilbert  and  William, — Samuel 
Finley,  Treat,  and  John  Blair,  were  among  the  mem- 
bers appointed.  This  alone  served  to  show  the  strong 
disposition  in  favor  of  union ;  for  some  of  these  had 
been  the  chief  and  original  offenders. 

At  this  conference  the  subject  of  the  protest  was 
satisfactorily  disposed  of,  and  the  report  given  in  to 
each  Synod  was  favorably  received.  The  arrangement 
was  therefore  made  that  the  two  Synods  should  have 
their  next  meeting  at  the  same  time  and  place,  and,  if 
matters  should  appear  ripe  for  it,  the  union  should  be 
perfected. 

Accordingly,  the  Synod  of  New  York  met  in  Philadel- 
phia, May  25,  1758.  The  Synod  of  Philadelphia  was 
already  in  session.  The  plan  of  union,  as  finally 
matured  by  the  joint  commissions  of  the  two  Synods 
who  met  on  the  22d  for  conference,  was  laid  before 
both  bodies  and  unanimously  approved.  This  approval 
was  notified  by  each  to  the  other,  and  on  May  29 
the  two  bodies  were  united  as  one,  under  the  name  of 
the  Synod  of  New  York  and  Philadelphia.  The  rela- 
tive strength  of  the  two  bodies,  thus  united  in  one, 
was  far  different  from  what  it  was  at  the  time  of  the 
protest.  In  1742,  the  Synod  of  Philadelphia  numbered, 
exclusive  of  New  York  Presbytery,  twenty-six  minis- 
ters ;  with  them,  thirty-eight.  At  the  time  of  the  union 
they  were  reduced  to  twenty -two.  More  had  been  lost 
by  death  and  removal  than  had  been  gained  by  addi- 
tions. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  Synod  of  New  York  had  a 
list  of  seventy  ministers,  thus  outnumbering  the  Old 
side  in  the  proportion  of  more  than  three  to  one. 
Numbering  at  first  but  eight  or  ten,  even  with  their 
licentiates  included,  the  New  side  was  nearly  doubled 


THE    PERIOD    OF    THE    DIVISION.  105 

by  the  accession  of  New  York  Presbytery  in  1745;  and 
from  that  period  tlu-y  had  rapidly  increased. 

Thus,  on  the  formation  of  the  united  Synod  it  num- 
bered ninety-four  ministers, — of  whom  forty-two  were 
present  and  fifty-two  absent.  There  were  also  four- 
teen elders  who  took  their  seats  in  the  united  Synod. 
It  thus  composed  at  its  first  session  an  assembly  of 
fifty-six  members;  and  among  them  were  many  whose 
names  are  worthy  of  lasting  remembrance.  Gilbert 
Tennent,  now  removed  to  the  pastorate  of  a  church  in 
Philadelphia,  was  moderator.  Bostwick,  who  had  suc- 
ceeded Pemberton  at  New  York, — Rodgers,  who  was 
afterward  to  be  transferred  to  the  same  field, — Richards, 
at  Rahway, — the  Finleys,  Dufneld,  and  Samuel  Davies, 
were  among  the  members  present.  Dickinson  did 
not  survive  to  witness  the  result  for  which  his  soul 
ardently  longed.  He  had  been  cut  off  by  death  in 
1747,  in  the  very  meridian  of  his  years  and  usefulness. 

A  far  different  scene  was  now  presented  in  Phila- 
delphia from  that  which  was  witnessed  upon  the  forma- 
tion of  the  first  Presbytery,  a  little  more  than  half  a 
century  before.  The  Church  wTas  then  struggling  for 
existence.  It  was  persecuted  both  in  Virginia  and  New 
York,  and  had  scarcely  a  foothold  in  either  province. 
A  few  feeble  churches  on  the  Eastern  Shore  of  Mary- 
land, one  or  two  in  Delaware,  one  in  Philadelphia,  and 
one  or  two  in  New  Jersey ,  composed  its  entire  strength. 
Now  it  numbered  nearly  one  hundred  ministers,  and 
more  than  as  many  churches.  The  field  of  its  opera- 
tions had  been  vastly  extended.  Virginia,  the  Caro- 
lina*, the  destitute  but  rapidly  settling  portions  of 
Pennsylvania  and  New  Jersey,  as  well  as  the  river  coun- 
ties of  New  York,  were  calling  upon  it  for  aid.  It  was 
inviting  laborers  from  abroad, — from  New  England, 
Scotland,  and  Ireland. — and  training  them  up  at  home. 
Princeton  College  had  gone  into  successful  operation. 


106  HISTORY    OF    TRESBYTERIANISM. 

Alison  was  at  the  head  of  the  College  of  Pennsylvania ; 
and  quite  a  number  of  the  ministers  were  engaged  at 
once  in  pastoral  uuty,  and  in  training  pious  young  men 
to  meet  the  demands  of  the  churches. 


CHAPTER  VII. 

PRESBYTERIANISM    IN    VIRGINIA. 

Scarcely  had  Makemie  gone  to  his  rest,  when 
another  portion  of  Virginia,  far  distant  from  that 
which  had  been  the  scene  of  his  labors,  opened  an  in- 
viting field  for  Presbyterian  missionary  effort.  The 
Virginia  government  encouraged  immigration  along 
its  frontier  settlements,  where  the  hardy  pioneers 
might  serve  as  a  defence  against  the  incursions  of  the 
Indian  tribes.  There  was  no  question  now  raised  in 
regard  to  their  faith  and  order.  If  they  could  carry  a 
rifle,  or  plant  along  the  western  forest  a  line  of  protec- 
tion against  savage  inroads,  they  were  sufficiently  or- 
thodox. Their  distance,  moreover,  from  the  settle- 
ments on  the  Eastern  Shore,  prevented  any  umbrage 
being  taken  at  a  dissent  which  did  not  attract  notice 
or  give  offence.  Thus,  in  obscurity  and  neglect,  Presby- 
terianism,  in  spite  of  Virginia  laws,  planted  itself  un- 
molested west  of  the  Blue  Ridge.  Germans,  Quakers, 
and  Irish  Presbyterians,  from  Pennsylvania,  took  pos-^ 
session  of  the  county  of  Frederick.  A  great  part  of 
this  region  was  of  the  most  inviting  kind.  Between 
the  North  Mountain  and  the  Shenandoah  extended  at 
that  time  a  spacious  prairie,  barren  of  timber,  but 
clothed  with  the  richest  herbage.     It  was  traversed  by 


PRESBYTERIANISM    IN    VIRGINIA. 


107 


herds  of  buffalo,  elk,  and  deer,  and  furnished  the  In- 
dians a  favorite  hunting-ground. 

Into  this  region  there  poured  a  mixed  population, 
leavened  by  a  Presbyterian  element  ;while  still  beyond 
it,  more  to  the  southwest,  the  county  of  Augusta  was 
almost  exclusively  occupied  by  a  Scotch-Irish  popula- 
tion. Among  the  names  of  the  early  settlers  we  find 
not  a  few  which  have  since  become  eminent  in  the  his- 
tory of  the  Church.  It  is  enough  to  mention  those  of 
McDowell,  Alexander,  Lyle,  Stuart,  Matthews,  Craw- 
ford, Campbell,  Moore,  Brown,  Wallace,  Patton,  Wil- 
son, Caruthers,  Cummins,  and  McKee. 

These  "  Presbyterians  of  the  valley"  were  a  bold, 
hardy,  perhaps  austere,  but  religiously  disposed  popu- 
lation. More  fortunate  than  their  brethren  east  of  the 
mountains,  they  were  left  unmolested  in  the  exercise 
of  their  religious  freedom.  As  early  as  1719,  "the 
people  of  Potomoke,"  near  the  present  town  of  Martins- 
burg,  were  supplied,  at  their  request,  with  preaching, 
by  the  Synod  of  Philadelphia.  Rev.  Daniel  Magill  was 
appointed  to  visit  them,  but,  although  not  settled  among 
them  as  pastor,  he  organized  a  church  and  labored  in 
the  region  for  several  months.  In  1732,  Joist  Hite,  with 
sixteen  families  from  Pennsylvania,  fixed  his  residence 
at  Opeckon,  a  few  miles  south  of  the  present  site  of 
Winchester.  Other  families  were  scattered  on  Cedar 
Creek  and  Crooked  Run.  In  1734,  Michael  Woods, 
from  Ireland,  with  a  large  family,  settled  near  Wood's 
Gap  in  Albemarle,  and  his  descendants  were  the  found- 
ers of  the  ^fountain  Plain  congregation.  From  this 
period  the  tide  of  immigration  flowed  in,  in  a  steady 
stream.  Settlements  were  soon  formed,  mostly  by 
Presbyterians,  in  Jefferson  county,  on  Cub  Creek  in 
Charlotte,  on  Buffalo  Creek  in  Prince  Edward,  at 
Concord  and  Hat  Creek  in  Campbell,  and  at  Boekfish 
in  Nelson.     Congregations  were  gathered  at  Opeckon, 


108  HISTORY    OF   PRESBYTERIANISM. 

Timber  Eidge,  Back  Creek  in  Berkeley,  Forks  of  James 
in  Eockbridge,  and  Triple  Forks  of  the  Shenandoah. 

In  1738,  the  congregations  had  become  so  numerous, 
and  the  necessity  of  ministers  so  urgent,  that  applica- 
tion was  made  to  the  Synod  of  Philadelphia  for  aid. 
In  response  to  the  appeal,  John  Craig  was  sent  to  labor 
with  the  joint  congregations  of  Tinkling  Spring  and 
Augusta,  and  for  twenty-five  years  this  pioneer  laborer 
occupied  his  post.  But  already  he  had  been  preceded 
by  those  who  had  transiently  visited  this  region  in  the 
character  of  missionaries.  James  Gelston  had  been 
sent  out  in  1737  by  the  Presbytery  of  Donegal,  and 
had  labored  at  Opeckon.  James  Anderson,  despatched 
by  the  Synod  to  confer  with  Governor  Gooch  on  the 
subject  of  liberty  for  Dissenters,  had  visited  several 
settlements,  preaching  as  he  went.  This  was  in  1738.1 
In  the  next  year  he  was  followed  by  Dunlap,  a  pro- 
bationer of  New  York  Presbytery,  who  spent  nearly 
three  months  in  the  neighborhood  of  Staunton.  In  the 
same  year,  John  Thompson,  of  Donegal  Presbytery, 
itinerated  through  the  settlements  of  the  whole  region, 
and  by  his  influence,  upon  his  return,  Craig  was  sent  to 
occupy  the  post  at  Augusta  and  Tinkling  Spring. 

1  Anderson's  mission  was  quite  successful.  In  1739,  he  reported 
to  Synod  that  he  had  waited  on  the  Governor  of  Virginia  with  the 
Synod's  address,  and  received  a  favorable  answer.  The  substance 
of  this  is  contained  in  a  letter  from  the  Governor  to  the  moderator 
of  Synod.  In  this  letter  he  says,  "As  I  have  always  been  inclined 
to  favor  the  people  who  have  lately  removed  from  other  provinces 
to  settle  on  the  western  side  of  our  great  mountains,  so  you  may 
be  assured  that  no  interruption  shall  be  given  to  any  minister  of 
your  profession  who  shall  come  among  them,  so  as  they  conform 
themselves  to  the  rules  prescribed  by  the  Act  of  Toleration  in  Eng- 
land, by  taking  the  oaths  enjoined  thereby  and  registering  the  places 
of  their  meeting,  and  behave  themselves  peaceably  towards  the 
Government.  This  you  may  please  to  communicate  to  the  Synod  as 
an  answer  of  theirs." — Minutes  of  Synod,  147. 


PRESBYTERIANISM    IN    VIRGINIA.  109 

Scarcely  was  he  settled,  when  the  division  of  the 
Synod  occurred  (1741).  He,  in  common  with  most  of 
the  Presbyterians  west  of  the  Blue  Ridge,  espoused 
the  cause  of  the  Old  side.  In  some  respects  this  was 
unfortunate  for  them.  The  Old  side  were  weak,  and 
unable  to  occupy  the  missionary  fields  which  opened 
before  them.  They  had  few  ministers  or  licentiates. 
For  several  years  the  only  one  whom  they  could  send  to 
Virginia,  as  a  fellow-laborer  with  Craig,  was  Alexander 
Miller,1 — a  man  who  had  already  been  put  on  trial  for 
drunkenness,  lying,  sedition,  and  "  opposing  the  work  of 
God,  then  in  progress  in  neighboring  congregations." 
Yet  for  him — though  we  must  hope  that  he  was  a  better 
man  after  his  trial — the  congregations  of  North  and 
South  Mountain,  in  Virginia,  made  application  in  1745 

From  this  time  the  visits  of  Presbyterian  clergymen 
were  more  frequent.  The  celebrated  John  Blair  itine- 
rated among  the  congregations  of  the  Valley  in  1745 
and  1746.  William  Eobinson  and  John  Eoan,  although 
their  attention  was  mainly  directed  to  the  region  east 
of  the  Ridge,  did  not  altogether  neglect  them.  But  by 
the  middle  of  the  century  the  population  of  the  Valley 
had  increased  so  rapidly  as  to  have  far  outstripped  the 
supply  of  the  means  of  grace.  Their  destitution  was 
a  subject  of  anxiety  to  both  the  Synods.  That  of 
Philadelphia,  unable  to  afford  supplies,  made  applica- 
tion for  aid  to  the  General  Assembly  of  the  Church  of 
Scotland.  That  of  New  York  applied  for  assistance 
to  the  Eastern  Association  of  Fairfield,  in  Connecticut. 
The  sympathies  of  the  two  bodies  are  manifest  in  their 
respective  applications. 

Yet  they  were  not  themselves  idle.  The  Synod  of 
Philadelphia  sent  out,  among  others,  to  the  vacant  con- 
gregations, Francis  Alison   and  John  Craig, — the  last 

1  Webster,  G18;  and  Foote's  Sketches. 
Vol.  I.— 10 


110  HISTORY    OF    PRESBYTERIANISM. 

already  mentioned  as  settled  as  a  pastor  at  Tinkling 
Spring  and  Augusta.  In  1753,  John  Brown,  of  the 
New  side,  took  charge  of  the  united  congregations  of 
New  Providence  and  Timber  Eidge.  The  Presbyterians 
of  the  Yalley  were  thus  divided  between  the  two  Synods ; 
but  the  superior  activity  and  numbers  of  the  New  side 
were  giving  them  a  decided  advantage  when  the  re- 
union of  the  two  parties  took  place  in  1758. 

Prom  this  period,  the  growth  of  Presbyterianism  in 
Virginia  was  more  rapid.  Hanover  Presbytery  was 
formed  in  1755,  comprising  in  it  all  the  ministers  of 
Virginia,  except  John  Hoge,  of  Opeckon,  and  one  or 
two  others,  west  of  the  mountains.  Amid  difficulty 
and  discouragement  it  prosecuted  its  work.  The  in- 
tolerant laws  of  the  province  were  a  sore  grievance.  As 
an  Episcopal  church  was  built  in  each  county  town,  it 
was  but  natural  that  the  Presbyterians  should  locate 
their  houses  of  worship  elsewhere.  Till  after  the  com- 
mencement of  the  Revolution,  there  was  not  in  the 
Valley  a  single  village  which  had  a  Presbyterian  church- 
edifice.1  The  oldest  congregations  were  all  in  the  coun- 
try, amid  a  sparse  population;  and  near  by,  in  quiet 
solitude,  was  the  enclosed  grave-yard. 

The  first  houses  of  worship  which  were  erected  were 
rude  wooden  structures ;  but  they  were  sanctified  by 
hallowed  associations,  and  were  endeared  to  the  wor- 
shippers by  attractions  beyond  those  of  mere  archi- 
tecture. When,  at  a  later  period,  they  were  replaced 
by  more  commodious  and  commanding  structures,  the 
new  erection  was  a  monument  to  the  pious  zeal  and 
self-denial  of  the  builders.  The  difficulties  to  be  over- 
come, where  the  heavy  timbers  had  to  be  dragged, 
sometimes  without  the  aid  of  wheels,  for  a  distance, 
and  the  sand  for  plastering  had  to  be  brought  in  sacks 

1  Captives  of  Abb's  Valley,  p.  14. 


rilESBYTERIANISM    IN    VIRGINIA.  Ill 

on  horseback  for  several  miles,  may  be  better  imagined 
than  described. 

But  these  were  not  the  only  hardships  which  the  set- 
tlors had  to  meet.  On  the  frontiers  of  civilization,  they 
stood  in  constant  dread  of  the  savage  foe.  Warlike 
tribes,  revisiting  their  old  hunting-grounds,  exulted  to 
take  vengeance  upon  the  white  man  for  his  intrusion 
upon  what  they  still  considered  their  own  domain. 
British  agents  incited  them  during  the  war  to  assault 
the  feeble  settlements.  Amid  the  quiet  loveliness 
of  nature,  and  within  the  sheltering  scenes  of  the 
Valley,  horrid  tragedies  of  barbarous  ferocity  were 
enacted.  The  solitary  settler  knew  not  when  the  ter- 
rible blow  would  fall  that  was  to  desolate  his  dwelling 
and  perhaps  doom  himself  or  his  household  to  captivity 
or  death.  There  was  not  a  little  to  remind  him  of  the 
hardships  of  his  ancestry  in  times  when  Londonderry 
and  Enniskillen  were  household  words.  We  cannot 
doubt  that  the  impending  terror  and  the  stern  tuition 
of  his  frontier  life  gave  a  peculiar  tinge  to  his  devo- 
tion, and  we  know  that  amid  the  scenes  of  the  Valley 
were  trained  some  of  the  noblest  pioneers  of  Presby- 
terianism  in  the  new  regions  of  Kentucky  and  Ten- 
nessee. 

The  rise  of  Presbyterianism  in  Hanover  is  insepa- 
rably connected  with  what  is  known  by  tradition  as 
Morris's  Beading-Mouse.  This  was  the  first  of  several 
buildings  in  that  region,  erected  to  accommodate  those 
who  were  dissatisfied  with  the  preaching  of  the  parish 
incumbents,  and  anxious  to  enjoy  the  privilege  of  listen- 
ing on  the  Sabbath  to  the  reading  of  instructive  and 
devotional  works  on  religion.  The  origin  of  this  move- 
ment was  somewhat  singular.  The  people  had,  for  the 
most  part,  never  heard  or  seen  a  Presbyterian  minister. 
But  reports  had  reached  them  of  revivals  in  Pennsyl- 
vania, New  Jersey,  and  Now  England.    A  few  leaves 


112  HISTORY    OF    TRESBYTERIANISM. 

of  Boston's  Fourfold  State,  in  the  possession  of  a  Scotch- 
woman, fell  into  the  hands  of  a  gentleman,  who  was  so 
affected  by  their  perusal  that  he  sent  to  England  by 
the  next  ship  to  procure  the  entire  work.  The  result 
of  its  perusal  was  his  conversion.  Another  obtained 
possession  of  Luther  on  Galatians ;  he,  in  like  manner, 
was  deeply  affected,  and  ceased  not  to  read  and  pray 
till  he  found  peace  in  Christ. 

These  persons,  with  two  or  three  others, — all  heads  of 
families, — without  previous  consultation  or  conference, 
absented  themselves  at  the  same  time  from  the  worship 
of  the  parish  church.  They  were  convinced  that  the 
gospel  was  not  preached  by  the  parish  minister,  and 
they  deemed  it  inconsistent  with  their  duty  to  attend 
upon  his  ministrations.  Four  of  them  were  summoned 
on  the  same  day,  and  at  the  same  place,  to  answer  to 
the  proper  officers  for  their  delinquency.  For  the  first 
time  they  here  learned  their  common  views.  Confirmed 
in  them  by  this  unexpected  coincidence,  they  thence- 
forth chose  to  subject  themselves  to  the  payment  of  the 
fines  imposed  by  law  rather  than  attend  church  where 
they  felt  that  they  could  not  be  profited. 

They  agreed  at  first  to  meet  every  Sabbath  alter- 
nately at  each  other's  houses,  to  read  and  pray.  Soon 
their  numbers  increased.  Curiosity  attracted  some,  and 
religious  anxiety  others.  The  Scriptures,  and  Luther 
on  Galatians,  were  first  read.  Afterward  a  volume  of 
Whitefield's  sermons  fell  into  their  hands  (1743).  "  My 
dwelling-house,"  says  Mr.  Morris,  "was  at  length  too 
small  to  contain  the  people.  We  determined  to  build 
a  meeting-house  merely  for  reading."  The  result  was 
that  several  were  awakened  and  gave  proof  of  genuine 
conversion.  Mr.  Morris  was  invited  to  several  places, 
some  of  them  at  a  considerable  distance,  to  read  the 
sermons  which  had  been  so  effective  in  his  own  neigh- 


PRESBYTERIANISM    IN    VIRGINIA.  113 

borliood.  Thus  the  interest  that  hud  been  awakened 
spread  abroad. 

The  dignitaries  of  the  Established  Church  saw  the 
parish  churches  deserted,  and  took  the  alarm.  They 
urged  that  indulgence  encouraged  the  evil,  and  hence 
invoked  the  strong  arm  of  the  law  to  restrain  it.  The 
leaders  in  the  movement  were  no  longer  regarded  as 
individual  delinquents,  but  a  malignant  cabal,  and, 
instead  of  being  arraigned  merely  before  the  magis- 
trates, they  wTere  cited  to  appear  before  the  Governor 
and  Council. 

Startled  by  the  criminal  accusation  which  was  now 
directed  against  them,  and  of  the  nature,  extent,  and 
penalties  of  which  they  had  indistinct  conceptions,  they 
had  not  even  the  name  of  a  religious  denomination 
under  which  to  shelter  their  dissent.  At  length,  recol- 
lecting that  Luther,  whose  work  occupied  so  much 
space  in  their  public  religious  readings,  was  a  noted 
reformer,  they  declared  themselves  Lutherans. 

But  it  so  happened  that,  on  the  way  to  Williamsburg 
to  appear  before  the  Governor,  one  of  the  company, 
detained  by  a  violent  storm  at  a  house  on  the  road,  fell 
in  with  an  old  volume  on  a  dust-covered  shelf,  which 
he  read  to  while  away  the  time.  Amazed  to  find  in  it 
the  expression  of  his  own  religious  sentiments,  so  far 
as  they  had  been  definitely  formed,  he  offered  to  pur- 
chase the  book;  but  the  owner  gave  it  to  him.  At 
Williamsburg,  he  with  his  friends  more  carefully  exa- 
mined the  work,  and  all  were  agreed  that  it  expressed 
their  own  views.  When  they  appeared  before  the 
Governor,  therefore,  they  presented  this  old  volume  as 
their  creed.  The  Governor,  Gooch,  himself  of  Scotch 
origin  and  education,  looked  at  the  volume,  and  found 
it  to  be  the  Confession  of  Faith  of  the  Presbyterian 
Church  of  Scotland.  He  consequently  denominated 
the  men  arraigned  before  him  Presbyterians,  and  dis- 

10* 


114  HISTORY    OF    PRESBYTERIANISM. 

missed  them  with  the  gentle  caution  not  to  excite  dis- 
turbance. One  of  the  party  firmly  believed  that  this 
leniency  on  the  part  of  the  Governor  and  the  Council 
was  due,  in  part,  to  the  impression  made  by  a  violent 
thunder-storm  then  shaking  the  house  in  which  they 
were  assembled,  and  wrapping  every  thing  around  them 
alternately  in  darkness  and  in  sheeted  flame. 

The  first  Presbyterian  minister  who  visited  this 
region  was  William  Eobinson.  In  the  winter  of  1742-3, 
he  was  sent  as  an  evangelist,  by  the  Presbytery  of  New 
Castle,  to  visit  the  Presbyterian  settlements  in  the  Val- 
ley of  the  Shenandoah,  and  those  on  the  south  side  of 
James  Eiver,  as  well  as  those  on  the  plain  in  North 
Carolina.  The  Hanover  Dissenters  heard  of  him,  and 
sent  a  deputation  to  invite  him  to  come  and  preach. 
First  satisfying  themselves  of  the  soundness  of  his 
principles,  and  being  informed  of  the  awakening  cha- 
racter of  his  preaching,  they  were  anxious  to  hear 
him.  On  July  6,  1743,  they  listened  to  the  first  sermon 
ever  preached  by  a  Presbyterian  minister  in  Hanover 
county,  Va.  The  congregation  was  large  the  first  day, 
but  it  was  vastly  increased  on  the  three  following  days. 
Many  were  awakened,  and  some  converted,  while  scarce 
an  individual  of  the  large  assembly  remained  unaf- 
fected. The  four  days  of  Mr.  Eobinson's  stay  were  long 
remembered.  The  people  wished  to  express  their  grati- 
tude to  him  by  presenting  him  a  considerable  sum  of 
money.  He  refused  to  receive  it.  They  urged  it  upon 
him,  but  he  still  refused.  They  then  procured  the  secret 
conveyance  of  it  into  his  saddle-bags,  the  evening  before 
he  was  to  leave.  The  increased  weight  of  his  baggage 
excited  his  suspicion.  Discovering  the  benevolent  arti- 
fice, he  no  longer  declined  receiving  the  money,  but 
informed  his  kind  friends  that  he  would  appropriate  it 
to  the  use  of  a  young  man  of  his  acquaintance  who 
was  studying  for  the  ministry,  but  embarrassed  in  his 


PRESBYTERIANISM    IN    VIRGINIA.  11  f 

circumstances.  "As  soon  as  be  is  licensed,"  lie  added 
"  we  will  send  him  to  visit  you  :  it  may  be  that  you 
may  now,  by  your  liberality,  be  educating  a  ministei 
for  yourselves. " 

This  possibility  was  soon  to  become  a  reality;  although 
Robinson  did  not  live  to  see  his  prophecy  fulfilled.  That 
young  man  was  Samuel  Davies,  and  four  years  later 
(1747)  he  found  his  way  to  Hanover. 

Meanwhile,  the  people  were  visited  by  Rev.  John 
Blair,  a  younger  brother  of  Rev.  Samuel  Blair,  like 
him  an  alumnus  of  the  Log  College  and  a  pupil  of  the 
elder  William  Tennent.  He  was  ordained  by  the  Pres- 
bytery of  New  Castle,  a  few  months  before  Mr.  Robin- 
son's visit  to  Virginia,  and  from  his  parish  in  Cumber- 
land county,  Pa.,  made  two  missionary  tours  to  the 
regions  visited  by  Mr.  Robinson.  He  preached  with 
great  power  in  various  places,  and  organized  several 
new  congregations.  Among  the  other  regions  visited 
by  him  in  1746,  was  the  county  of  Hanover.  The 
most  remarkable  effects  followed  his  short  stay.  "  His 
hearers,  agitated  beyond  control,  poured  forth  tears 
and  sighs,  and  often  broke  out  into  loud  crying." 
Ojmosers  were  roused  to  devise  means  to  arrest  the 
work.  Absences  from  the  parish  church  were  more 
carefully  noted,  and  the  law  was  invoked  to  prevent 
apostasy  from  the  ceremonies  of  the  Church  of  Eng- 
land. 

These  efforts  were  put  forth  with  more  vigor  in  con- 
sequence of  the  visit  of  Rev.  John  Roan  to  this  region. 
Less  discreet  than  either  Robinson  or  Blair,  his  bold, 
earnest,  stirring  appeals,  commingled  with  rebukes  of 
the  clergy  of  the  Established  Church  for  neglect  of 
their  official  duties,  provoked  animadversion.  The 
result  was  the  prosecution  of  Roan,  and  an  order  for- 
bidding any  meetings  of  "Moravians,  Muggletonians, 
Mid  New  Lights.''     The  prosecution,  on  the  flight  of 


116  HISTORY   OF   PRESBYTERIANISM. 

the  principal  mover  of  it,  was  dropped,  and,  on  the 
address  of  the  Synods  to  the  Governor,  the  order  was 
rescinded.  Gilbert  Tennent  and  Samuel  Finley,  deputed 
by  the  Presbytery  to  visit  Virginia  as  missionaries,  were 
kindly  received  by  the  Governor,  who  gave  them  per- 
mission to  preach  in  Hanover.  Their  visit  was  a  season 
of  refreshing.  "  Several  careless  sinners  were  awa- 
kened," and  quite  a  number  "  who  had  trusted  in  their 
moral  conduct  and  religious  duties"  were  aroused  from 
their  security. 

After  the  return  of  Tennent  and  Finley,  the  people 
of  Hanover  were  visited  by  Whitefield.  He  came  and 
preached  four  or  five  days,  and  his  labors  were  favor- 
ably received  and  largely  blessed.  But  after  his  depart- 
ure these  Presbyterians  were  not  only  destitute  of  a 
pastor,  but  were  grievously  harassed  by  the  pains  and 
penalties  of  the  law.  "  Upon  a  Lord's  day,"  says  Mr. 
Morris,  "  a  proclamation  was  set  up  at  our  meeting- 
house, strictly  requiring  all  magistrates  to  suppress 
and  prohibit,  as  far  as  they  lawfully  could,  all  itinerant 
preachers."  For  that  day  they  were  constrained  "  to 
forbear  reading."  But  before  the  next  Sabbath  their 
fears  were  relieved.  They  received  the  glad  intelli- 
gence that  Mr.  Davies  was  coming  to  preach  among 
them, — that  he  had  qualified  himself  according  to  law, 
and  had  obtained  the  licensing  of  four  meeting-houses, 
— a  thing  "which  had  never  been  done  before." 

From  this  period  a  brighter  prospect  opened  before 
them.  The  name  of  Hanover  county  was  thenceforth 
to  be  ever  associated  with  that  of  a  man  whom  after- 
ages  will  delight  to  honor.  Samuel  Davies  was  born 
of  Welsh  ancestry,  in  New  Castle  county,  Del.,  in  1723. 
His  mother,  in  the  judgment  of  filial  reverence  and 
affection,  was  "  one  of  the  most  eminent  saints  he  ever 
knew  upon  earth."  His  very  name — Samuel — was  given 
him  in  the  spirit  of  Hannah  of  old.     This  early  dedica- 


PSESBYTERIANISM    IN    VIRGINIA.  117 

tion  to  God  had  a  powerful  effect  upon  his  own  mind. 
In  his  childish  years,  habits  of  secret  prayer  were 
formed,  and  "he  was  more  ardent  in  his  supplications 
for  being  introduced  into  the  gospel  ministry  than  for 
any  thing  else/'  At  the  age  of  twelve  years,  he  received 
impressions  of  a  religious  nature,  that  were  abiding. 
In  his  fifteenth  year  he  made  a  public  profession  of 
religion,  and  united  with  the  Church.  His  classical 
course  was  commenced  under  the  tuition  of  a  Welsh 
minister  by  the  name  of  Morgan.1  When  Rev.  Samuel 
Blair  opened  his  famous  school  at  Fagg's  Manor,  young 
Davies  was  put  under  his  charge.2  The  standard  of 
classical  attainment  was  high,  and  the  acquisition  of  the- 
ological knowledge  was  sedulously  encouraged.  From 
the  commencement  of  the  course,  Davies  applied  him- 
self to  his  studies  with  zeal  and  energy.  Aided  by  the 
means  extended  to  him  through  Mr.  Eobinson  by  the 
people  of  Hanover,  he  felt  strongly  drawn  toward 
them,  and,  when  licensed  by  New  Castle  Presbytery, 
July  30,  1746,  his  first  thoughts  were  turned  in  that 
direction.  In  little  more  than  six  months  from  the  date 
of  his  licensure,  he  was  ordained  an  evangelist  for  the 
purpose  of  visiting  the  congregations  in  Virginia,  espe- 
cially those  in  Hanover  county.  After  some  hesitation 
on  the  part  of  the  Council,  although  the  Governor 
favored  his  application,  he  received  the  license  of  the 
Government "  to  officiate  in  and  about  Hanover  at  four 
meeting-houses."8 

Davies  proceeded  to  Hanover,  and  "was  received 
with  an  outburst  of  joy."  His  coming  with  his  license 
was  "  like  a  visit  from  the  angel  of  mercy."  For 
several  months  he  labored  throughout  the  region  with 
unremitted  energy.     His  weak  frame  was  prostrated 


1  Sprague's  Annals,  iii.  40;  Webster,  374,  549. 

2  Life  of  Davies:  Preface  to  his  sermons.       3  Foote's  Sketches. 


118  HISTORY    OF    TRESBYTERIANISM. 

under  this  burden  of  effort.  He  was  forced  at  the  close 
of  the  summer  to  return  to  Delaware,  with  greatly 
reduced  health,  and  with  strong  indications  that  he 
was  the  subject  of  a  confirmed  consumption.  Still,  in 
spite  of  his  weakness,  he  continued  his  labors  on  the 
Eastern  Shore  of  Maryland — preaching  during  the  day, 
even  while  he  was  so  ill  at  night  as  to  need  persons  to 
sit  up  with  him. 

In  the  spring  of  1748,  his  health  was  somewhat 
improved,  and  there  were  slight  prospects  of  his 
recovery.  His  services  were  instantly  in  demand. 
But  the  application  from  Hanover  presented  to  his 
mind  claims  superior  to  any  other.  Accompanied  by 
his  intimate  friend  Mr. — afterward  the  celebrated  Dr. — 
John  Eodgers,1  for  whom  he  in  vain  endeavored  to 
procure,  of  the  Government,  a  license  to  preach,  he 
directed  his  course  to  Hanover,  and  recommenced  his 
labors.  The  field  before  him  was  a  broad  one,  embrac- 
ing not  only  the  region  about  Hanover,  but  most  of 
Virginia,  and  portions  of  North  Carolina.  But  in  many 
places  the  civil  authorities  placed  obstacles  in  the  way 
of  Dissenting  worship.  Davies  argued  for  freedom 
with  characteristic  boldness  and  vigor.  He  claimed, 
in  controversy  with  Peyton  Eandolph,  the  king's  attor- 
ney-general, that  the  English  Act  of  Toleration  for 
the  relief  of  Protestant  Dissenters  extended  to  Vir- 
ginia. On  one  occasion  he  appeared  in  person  before 
the  General  Court,  and  replied  to  Eandolph  in  a  strain 
of  eloquence  that  is  reported  to  have  won  the  admira 
tion  of  the  most  earnest  of  his  opponents,  who  said  that 
in  him  "  a  good  lawyer  had  been  spoiled."  He  per- 
severed in  his  efforts  in  the  cause  of  toleration,  till, 
crossing  the  ocean,  he  had  the  opportunity  to  bring  the 

1  Rodgers  was  banished  from  the  colony,  and  returned  and  set- 
tled in  St.  George's,  Del. 


PRESBYTERIANISM    IN    VIRGINIA.  119 

matter  before  the  king  in  council,  and  received  a 
declaration,  under  authority,  that  the  Act  of  Tolera- 
tion did  extend  to  the  colony  of  Virginia. 

Davies  went  to  Hanover  with  the  feeling  that  he  was 
a  dying  man.  He  hoped  that  he  "  might  live  to  prepare 
the  way  for  some  more  useful  successor."  But,  with 
a  hallowed  ambition,  he  desired,  before  his  lips  were 
closed  in  death,  to  win  some  few  more,  at  least,  as  the 
seals  of  his  ministry.  "  He  longed  to  carry  with  him 
to  the  heavens  some  gems  for  the  eternal  crown." 
Lifted  above  all  earthly  considerations,  all  fear  of  conse- 
quences, and  standing,  as  he  believed,  almost  face  to  face 
with  eternity,  he  prepared  to  deliver  his  solemn  message. 

A  blessing  followed  his  labors.  The  desire  to  hear 
the  young  Dissenter  whom  a  large  part  of  the  Coun- 
cil had  wished  to  keep  out  of  Virginia,  and  whose 
license  they  would  have  revoked  but  for  the  influence 
of  the  Governor,  spread  in  every  direction.  People 
rode  from  great  distances  to  attend  upon  his  ministry. 
To  avoid  collision  with  the  public  authorities,  resolutely 
bent  on  executing  the  laws  in  favor  of  the  Established 
Church,  petitions  from  different  neighborhoods  for  an 
increased  number  of  authorized  houses  of  worship  were 
laid  before  the  General  Court.  The  petitions  were 
granted,  and  three  new  places  of  preaching  were  added 
to  the  four  already  occupied  by  Davies.  The  seven 
were  located,  three  in  Hanover,  one  in  Henrico,  one 
in  Goochland,  one  in  Louisa,  and  one  in  Carolina.  The 
nearest  were  twelve  or  fifteen  miles  from  each  other, 
and  "  some  of  the  people  have  thirty  or  forty  miles  to 
the  nearest. "  The  extreme  points  of  Davies's  parish 
were  eighty  or  ninety  miles  apart. 

The  county  court  of  New  Kent  gave  license,  upon 
the  petition  of  a  number  of  inhabitants,  for  Davies  to 
preach  in  St.  Peter's  parish,  but  the  General  Court 
annulled  the  proceeding,  and  the  license  was  revoked 


120  HISTORY   OF    PRESBYTERIANISM. 

In  spite  of  opposition,  however,  the  influence  and  fame 
of  Davies  were  spreading  far  and  wide.  The  meeting- 
house near  his  own  residence  (twelve  miles  from  Rich- 
mond, and  near  Morris's  Reading -House)  was  quite  too 
small  for  the  multitudes  which  assembled  in  pleasant 
weather.  "  The  thick  woods  were  then  resorted  to ; 
and  the  opposers  of  the  Dissenters  were  exasperated 
at  the  sight  of  crowds  listening  to  the  gospel  in  the 
deep  shades  of  the  forest."  All  classes  were  alike 
interested.  Even  the  negroes,  of  whom  Mr.  Davies 
baptized  forty  during  the  first  three  years,  crowded  to 
listen.  "  Sometimes,"  said  he,  "  I  see  a  hundred  and 
more  among  my  hearers."1 

The  report  of  this  state  of  things  went  abroad,  and 
gladdened  the  hearts  of  Christians  of  New  England. 
"I  heard  lately,"  writes  Jonathan  Edwards  (May  23, 
1749),  "  a  credible  account  of  a  remarkable  work  of  con- 
viction and  conversion  among  whites  and  negroes,  at 
Hanover,  Va.,  under  the  ministry  of  Mr.  Davies,  who 
is  lately  settled  there,  and  has  the  character  of  a  very 
ingenious  and  pious  young  man."  To  many  others,  the 
intelligence  was  not  less  cheering  than  to  the  great 
preacher  of  Northampton.  Here,  then  (1750),  a  little 
more  tnan  a  hundred  years  ago,  is  the  picture  of  Pres- 
byterianism  in  Yirginia.  Among  the  Scotch-Irish  emi- 
grants along  the  frontier  counties  and  in  the  Valley 
of  the  Shenandoah,  there  were  five  congregations  with- 
out a  settled  pastor  arid  dependent  upon  such  tempo- 
rary supplies  as  the  Synod  could  send  them.  In  five 
counties  around  and  including  Hanover,  there  were 
seven  preaching-stations,  supplied  by  the  labors  of  a 
single  pastor,  feeble  in  health,  but  zealous,  eloquent, 
and  unremitting  in  his  exertions.  Even  he  had  to  en- 
counter a  strong  adverse  influence  and  the  intolerant 

Foote's  Sketches. 


PRESBYTERIANISM    IN    VIRGINIA.  121 

measures  of  the  Colonial  Government.  In  vain  was 
the  earnest  appeal  addressed  to  Presbytery  and  Synod 
for  more  laborers.  -All  that  could  be  done  was  to  send 
itinerants  to  labor  for  a  few  weeks,  or  possibly  months, 
among  the  destitute  and  frontier  settlements. 

Thus  Davies  was  left  alone.  "  In  the  whole  'Ancient 
Dominion'  he  had  no  fellow-laborer  with  whom  his 
heart  might  rejoice.  West  of  the  Blue  Ridge  there 
were  Miller1  and  Craig,  and  on  its  eastern  base,  at  the 
head  of  Rockfish,  Mr.  Black ;  but  these  were  members 
of  the  Synod  of  Philadelphia,  and  for  some  years  had 
no  communication  with  Mr.  Davies."  The  task  devolved 
upon  him  was  overwhelming.  He  felt  the  demand  to  be 
one  which  was  imperative,  and  he  did  his  best  to  meet 
it.  He  preached  not  only  on  the  Sabbath,  but  on  week- 
days, to  "  laboring  people,  of  whom  the  Dissenters  were 
mostly  composed."  He  exerted  himself  to  procure  other 
laborers  to  enter  the  field.  Rodgers,  who  had  accom- 
panied him,  and  in  whom  he  had  hoped  to  find  an  effi- 
cient ally  and  a  sympathizing  brother,  had  been  denied 
a  license  by  the  Government  Council.  The  needs  of 
the  field  were  repeatedly  laid  before  the  Synod.  In 
1749,  it  met  at  Maidenhead,  and,  upon  representation 
of  the  circumstances  of  Virginia,  "  Mr.  Davenport  is 
appointed,  if  he  recover  a  good  state  of  health,  to  go 
and  supply."  The  next  year  the  Synod  recommended 
to  the  Presbytery  of  New  Brunswick  "  to  endeavor  to 
prevail  with  Mr.  John  Todd,  upon  his  being  licensed,  to 
take  a  journey  thither,  as  also  to  the  Presbytery  of 
New  York  to  urge  the  same  upon  Messrs.  Syms  and 
Greenman.  Mr.  Davenport  is  appointed  to  go  into 
Virginia  to  assist  in  supplying  the  numerous  vacant 
and  destitute  congregations  there.  The  same  is  also 
recommended  to  Mr.  B}7ram." 


1  Alexander  Miller  was  not  installed  until  August  1,  1757. 
Vol.  I.— 11 


122  HISTORY    OF   PRESBYTERIANISM. 

The  visit  of  Davenport  was  a  profitable  one.  "  Blessed 
be  God,"  writes  Davies  to  Dr.  Bellamy,  "  he  did  not 
labor  in  vain."  Todd  became  (November  12, 1752)  the 
assistant  of  Davies,  and,  after  his  acceptance  of  the 
presidency  at  Princeton,  the  leading  man  in  the  Han- 
over Presbytery  east  of  the  Blue  Eidge.  Byram,  who 
had  accompanied  Brainerd  in  his  first  journey  to  the 
Susquehanna,  and  who  is  mentioned  by  him  with  much 
affection  as  a  kindred  spirit,  visited  Yirginia,  but  did 
not  remain  long.  The  petition  of  Todd  to  be  qualified 
to  officiate  in  Hanover  county  was  procured  with  great 
difficulty,  and  the  Council  absolutely  refused  to  license 
any  more  meeting-houses.  In  spite,  however,  of  all 
restrictions,  the  missionary  tours  of  Davies  in  the  sur- 
rounding counties  were  frequent  and  extensive.  He 
preached  at  the  places  where  he  lodged,  and  "many 
neighborhoods  have  traditions  of  his  usefulness.  Every 
visit  enlarged  his  circuit,  and  increased  the  number  of 
places  that  asked  for  Presbyterian  preaching." 

In  1752,  Davies  met  the  Synod  of  New  York  in  its 
sessions  at  Newark.  He  represented  before  it  the  des- 
titution of  Virginia,  and  Mr.  Greenman  and  Mr.  Eobert 
Henry  were  appointed  to  go  there  during  the  course 
of  the  year.  Greenman  was  a  young  man  who  had 
been  educated  at  the  charge  of  David  Brainerd;  and 
Henry  was  a  recent  graduate  of  New  Jersey  College. 

Just  at  this  period  a  messenger  from  Yirginia  to 
Jonathan  Edwards,  at  Stockbridge,  invited  him — with 
a  handsome  subscription  for  his  encouragement  and 
support — to  settle  in  Virginia,  in  the  neighborhood  of 
Davies.  But  he  was  installed  at  Stockbridge  before  the 
messenger  came.  This  was  the  main  obstacle  to  his 
removal.  Speaking  with  reference  to  a  connection 
with  the  Presbyterian  Church,  he  said  (July  5,  1750), 
"As  to  my  subscribing  to  the  substance  of  the  West- 
minster Confession,  there  would  be  no  difficulty ;  and 


PRESBYTERIANISM    IN    VIRGINIA.  123 

as  to  the  Presbyterian  government,  I  have  long  been 
perfectly  out  of  conceit  of  our  unsettled,  independent, 
confused  way  of  church  government  in  this  land,  and 
the  Presbyterian  way  has  ever  appeared  to  me  most 
agreeable  to  the  word  of  God  and  the  reason  and 
nature  of  things." 

We  will  not  pause  to  dwell  upon  the  results  that 
might  have  followed  the  transfer  of  Edwards  to  Vir- 
ginia. In  conjunction  with  Davies,  his  influence  would 
unquestionably  have  been  widely  felt.  But,  failing  to 
secure  his  services  for  the  people  whom  he  had  encou- 
raged, doubtless,  to  make  the  application,  Davies  set 
himself  to  wrork  to  supply,  as  far  as  he  was  able,  the 
lack  of  ministerial  service  in  other  ways.  He  multi- 
plied his  own  preaching  excursions,  extending  them  to 
the  eastern  base  of  the  Blue  Ridge ;  he  sought  to  enlist 
the  interest  of  members  of  Northern  Presbyteries  in  the 
Virginia  field,  and,  beside  all,  to  raise  up  preachers  of 
the  gospel  in  Virginia.  He  promoted  classical  schools 
wherever  their  establishment  promised  usefulness,  and 
encouraged  and  assisted  pious  youths  in  their  prepara- 
tory course.  Among  those  largely  indebted  to  him, 
who  afterward  attained  to  usefulness  and  distinction, 
wrere  John  Wright,  Patillo,  of  Carolina  memory,  John 
Martin,  the  first  licentiate  of  Hanover  Presbytery, 
William  Richardson,  the  celebrated  James  Waddel, 
and  James  Hunt. 

Thus  devoted,  unwearied,  sagacious,  and  energetic  in 
his  efforts,  Davies  multiplied  himself  into  a  host.  Every- 
where he  proved  himself  equal  to  his  position,  ready 
for  the  emergency.  "  He  seems/'  as  one  said  of  him 
on  seeing  him  pass  through  a  court-yard,  "  as  an  am- 
bassador of  some  mighty  king."  He  was  at  once  the 
champion  of  freedom,  the  Mend  of  learning,  the  founder 
of  churches,  and,  next  to  Whitefield,  the  most  eloquent 
preacher  of  his  age. 


124  HISTORY   OF   PRESBYTERIANISM. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

THE    SYNODS    AND    THEIR    SCHOOLS. 

From  the  period  of  the  division  in  1741,  each  branch 
of  jhe  Church  was  intent  upon  making  provision  to 
train  up  young  men  for  the  ministry.  The  importance 
of  prompt  and  efficient  measures  for  this  object  was 
especially  felt  by  the  members  of  the  Synod  of  New 
York.  The  destitution  around  them  called  aloud  for 
laborers,  and  after  Brainerd's  expulsion  from  Yale 
College,  and  the  refusal  of  the  corporation  to  grant 
him  his  degree,  notwithstanding  his  humble  confession 
of  his  error,  it  was  felt  that  circumstances  demanded 
that  another  institution  should  be  established,  to  be 
located  within  the  bounds  of  the  Presbyterian  Church. 

The  prominent  mover  in  the  enterprise  was  Jonathan 
Dickinson,  of  Elizabethtown,  N.J.  He  settled  at  this 
place  in  1708,  although  he  did  not  join  the  Philadelphia 
Presbytery  until  1717.1  For  many  years  he  had  been 
accustomed  to  receive  young  men  for  instruction  in  the 
different  branches  preparatory  to  their  entering  upon 
the  study  of  some  one  of  the  liberal  professions.  He 
was,  consequently,  fully  aware  of  the  importance  and 
necessity  of  a  thorough  education  He  had,  moreover, 
before  the  division,  been  the  acknowledged  leader  of 
the  old  Synod,  and  he  was  no  less  the  leader  of  the 
Synod  of  New  York  after  the  separation.  His  com- 
manding influence,  large  experience,  and  intellectual 

1  Sprague's  Annals,  iii.  14. 


THE    SYNODS   AND    THEIR    SCHOOLS.  125 

superiority  marked  him  out  as  the  individual  fittest  to 
preside  in  so  important  an  undertaking.  Under  his 
counsels  a  charter  was  procured  for  a  college  from 
Governor  Hamilton,  and  the  infant  institution  went 
into  operation  at  Elizabethtown,  with  Dickinson  at  its 
head.  Continuing  still  the  discharge  of  his  pastoral 
duties,  he  took  charge  also  of  the  instruction  and  disci- 
pline of  the  students.  It  was,  however,  only  for  a  brief 
twelvemonth  that  he  was  permitted  to  occupy  this  im- 
portant post.  The  charter  was  given  in  October,  1746, 
and  his  death  occurred  October  7,  1747. 

This,  at  the  outset,  was  a  great  loss.  Dickinson  was 
no  common  man.  Those  who  have  read  his  writings 
need  no  other  proof  of  it.  Dr.  John  Erskine,  of  Edin- 
burgh, said  that  the  British  Isles  had  produced  no  such 
writers  on  Divinity  in  the  eighteenth  century  as  Dick- 
inson and  Edwards.  Bellamy,  who  knew  him  well, 
spoke  of  him  as  "  the  great  Mr.  Dickinson." 

A  successor  for  him  was  found,  however,  in  Aaron 
Burr,  pastor  at  Newark.1  Burr  had  been  called  to 
New  Haven  as  a  colleague  of  Noyes,  but  declined  the 
call.  For  nearly  ten  years  he  had  been  settled  in  his 
present  charge,  and  had  given  proof  of  his  ability  and 
fitness  for  the  vacant  post.  He  had  under  his  chargo 
already  a  large  Latin  school,  when  Dickinson's  students 
were  removed  from  Elizabethtown  and  put  under  his 
charge.  A  new  charter  was  procured  for  the  college, 
and  Burr  was  appointed  President  under  it  in  Novem- 
ber, 1748.  On  the  same  day  he  conferred  the  Bachelor's 
degree  upon  a  class  who  were  prepared  to  receive  it. 
The  corporation  record  states  that  he  delivered  upon 
the  occasion,  as  his  Inaugural,  "  a  handsome  and  elegant 
Latin  oration." 

Until  the  autumn  of  1755,  the  college  was  located 


Sprague's  Annals,  iii.  08-   Webster,  448. 
11 


126  HISTQRY   OF   PRESBYTERIANISM. 

at  Newark,1  and  Burr  continued  to  discharge  the 
double  duty  of  pastor  of  the  church  and  President  of 
the  institution.  But  in  the  course  of  the  following 
year,  buildings  having  been  erected  at  Princeton  for 
the  accommodation  of  the  students,  and  Burr  having 
been  dismissed  from  his  pastoral  charge,  the  college 
went  into  operation  under  his  presidency,  in  the  place 
where  it  has  since  been  permanently  located.2 

1  The  first  entry  in  the  minutes  of  the  College  of  New  Jersey  is 
a  copy  of  the  charter  granted  by  Governor  Belcher.  The  next 
states  that  "  on  Thursday,  October  13,  1748,  convened  at  New  Bruns- 
wick, James  Hude,  Andrew  Johnston,  Thomas  Leonard,  Esqs., 
Mr.  William  P.  Smith,  and  Rev.  Messrs.  John  Pierson,  Ebenezer 
Pemberton,  Joseph  Lamb,  William  Tennent,  Richard  Treat,  David 
Cowell?  Aaron  Burr,  Timothy  Johnes,  and  Thomas  Arthur,  thirteen 
of  them  nominated  in  the  charter  to  be  trustees  of  the  college;  who, 
having  accepted  the  charter,  were  qualified  and  incorporated  accord- 
ing to  the  directions  thereof."  November  9,  Governor  Belcher, 
Messrs.  Peter  Van  Brugh  Livingston,  Samuel  Hazard,  and  Rev. 
Messrs.  Samuel  Blair  and  Jacob  Green,  were  qualified  as  additional 
trustees.  Burr  was  chosen  President,  and  the  first  commencement 
was  held  the  same  day.     There  were  six  graduates. 

For  several  years  the  students  were  scattered  in  private  families 
in  Newark,  the  public  academical  exercises  being  generally  per- 
formed in  the  county  court-house.  Governor  Belcher  at  length 
urged  the  erection  of  the  college  edifice,  although  the  funds  were 
so  scanty  that  but  for  his  advice  and  aid  the  enterprise  would 
have  been  deemed  impracticable.  At  a  meeting  at  Newark,  Sep- 
tember 27,  1752,  he  advised  the  trustees  to  proceed  immediately  to 
determine  upon  a  location  for  the  college.  The  people  of  New 
Brunswick  not  having  complied  with  the  terms  proposed  to  them 
for  fixing  the  college  in  that  place,  it  was  voted  that  it  should  be 
established  in  Princeton,  upon  condition  that  the  inhabitants  of 
said  place  secure  to  the  trustees  two  hundred  acres  of  woodland, 
ten  acres  of  cleared  land,  and  £1000  of  proclamation  money,  all 
which  is  to  be  complied  with  in  three  months.  On  January  24,  1753, 
it  was  announced  that  the  conditions  were  fulfilled. — Am.  Quar.  Reg. 
Aug.  1834. 

2  The  college   building  was  for  some  years  the  largest  college 


THE    SYNODS    AND    TIIKIH    SCHOOLS.  127 

But  the  means  for  effecting  this  change  of  locution, 
and  placing  the  institution  nponasolid  kisis,  were  pro- 
cured with  some  difficulty .  The  Synod,  in  1752,1  ordered 
collections  in  the  churches  on  its  behalf,  and  besought 
Pemberton,  of  New  York,  to  cross  the  ocean  and  advo- 
cate its  claims  in  Scotland  and  England,  lie  declined 
the  mission,  and  the  Synod  then  selected  Gilbert  Ten- 
nent  and  Samuel  Davies  in  his  place.2  A  better  choice 
could  scarcely  have  been  made,  although  Virginia  was 
exceedingly  reluctant  to  relinquish  the  services  of  her 
favorite  preacher.  The  deputation  was  kindly  received 
abroad.  Davies  especially  was  greeted  with  welcome, 
and  his  reputation  as  a  pulpit  orator  was  established 
as  securely  in  England  as  in  Virginia.  Funds  were 
collected  from  Presbyterian  and  other  Dissenters  in 
England,  and  from  the  churches  in  Scotland,  and  the 
college  was  placed  on  a  secure  basis.3 

But  already  it  began  to  be  known  by  its  fruits.  It 
promised  to  realize  the  fond  anticipations  of  its  foun- 
ders. Although  hitherto  without  a  fixed  location, 
without  permanent  funds,  library,  apparatus,  faculty, 
or  building,  it  had  a  noble  President,  and  had  been 
sending  out  graduates.  When  Davies  and  Tennent  set 
out  for  England  (1753),  it  numbered  already  fifty 
graduates,  twTenty-six  of  whom  entered  the  ministry. 
Of  these,  five  went  to  Virginia,  and  one  became  a 
pioneer  missionary  in  North  Carolina. 

A  notice  of  the  mission  of  Davies  and  Tennent  to 
England  is  important  as  illustrating  the  mutual  rela- 
tions of  the  Presbyterian  Church  in  this  country  and 
of  the  churches  of  Great  Britain.     They  embarked  on 

structure  in  the  United  States.  It  was  first  named  Belcher  Hall, 
but  the  Governor  declined  the  honor,  and  suggested  instead  of  it 
Nassau  Hall.  It  accommodated  nearly  one  hundred  and  fifty 
students. 

1  Minutes  of  Synod,  248.         2  Ibid.  'lol.         3  Foote's  Sketches. 


128  HISTORY    OF    riiESBYTERIANISM. 

their  voyage  for  England,  November  18,  1753,  and  in 
just  one  month  anchored  in  the  Downs.1  Eighty 
pounds  had  been  handed  them  by  the  treasurer  of  the 
college  to  bear  their  expenses.  It  is  illustrative  of  the 
character  of  Davies,  as  well  as  the  feeble  resources  of 
the  American  churches,  to  read  in  his  diary,  just 
before  receiving  the  money, — "  Was  uneasy  to  find  that 
the  trustees  seem  to  expect  that  I  should  furnish 
myself  with  clothes  in  this  embassy.  With  what 
pleasure  would  I  do  it  were  it  in  my  power !  but,  alas ! 
it  is  not;  and  therefore,  notwithstanding  all  the  pliable- 
ness  of  my  nature,  I  must  insist  upon  their  providing 
for  me  in  this  respect,  as  one  condition  of  my  under- 
taking the  voyage."  It  may  be  that  the  sum  advanced 
was  raised  to  eighty  pounds  to  meet  this  necessity. 

Before  Davies  embarked,  he  was  surprised  at  a  clause 
in  a  letter  which  was  shown  him  from  Dr.  Berdt,  of 
London,  to  Colonel  Grant,  of  Philadelphia,  to  the  effect 
"  that  the  principles  inculcated  in  the  College  of  New 
Jersey  are  generally  looked  upon  as  antiquated  and 
unfashionable  by  the  Dissenters  in  England."  It  gave 
him  premonition  of  a  kind  of  difficulty  he  would  have 
to  encounter,  which  until  then  he  had  not  anticipated. 
But  upon  reaching  England,  he  found  the  statement  of 
Dr.  Berdt  only  too  true.  His  severest  trials  were  from 
the  degeneracy  of  the  children  of  the  Puritans. 

His  first  saddening  intelligence  was  from  his  corre- 
spondent, Mr.  Gibbons,  "  who  informed  us  of  the  gene- 
ral apostasy  of  the  Dissenters  from  the  principles  of 
the  Beformation."  "  The  Presbyterians,  particularly," 
says  Davies,  "  being  generally  Arminians  or  Socinians, 
seem  shy  of  us."  A  more  welcome  reception  awaited 
the  deputation  "  at  the  Amsterdam  Coffee-House,  where 

1  For  a  full  account  of  the  mission,  see  Foote's  Sketches ;  also, 
life  of  Davies,  in  the  American  Quarterly  Register,  1837. 


7IIE    SYNODS   AND    THEIR    SCHOOLS.  129 

the  Congregational ist   and    Baptist    ministers  met  on 
Tuesdays/1 

The  difficulties  to  be  encountered  were  by  no  means 
of  a  trifling  nature.  Several,  upon  whom  they  had 
depended,  told  them  that  they  could  do  nothing  for 
them.  Objection  was  made  to  the  college  as  "  a  party 
design;  that  though  the  charter  was  catholic,  yet  so 
many  of  the  trustees  were  Presbyterians,  that  they 
would  manage  matters  with  arbitrary  partiality;  that 
the  trustees  in  New  York  City  complained  that  there 
were  not  more  trustees  of  other  denominations."  Mr. 
Jacksoo  was  -alraid  our  college  would  fall  into  Episco- 
pal hands."  Tennent,  moreover,  was  confronted  with 
his  Nottingham  sermon,  which  "the  inveterate  malig- 
nity of  the  Synod  of  Philadelphia,"  as  Davies  phrases  it, 
had  forwarded,  with  accompanying  accusations  against 
its  author,  to  obstruct  the  success  of  the  undertaking. 

Tennent  promptly  disavowed  the  divisive  principles 
of  his  sermon,  and  confessed  his  errors.  Davies  was 
perplexed  and  mortified  at  these  unexpected  embar- 
rassments. But,  with  prudence  and  sagacity,  he  was 
enabled  in  great  measure  to  overcome  them. 

Still,  among  those  upon  whom  they  had  counted  as 
friends  of  their  enterprise,  there  were  not  a  few  who 
disapproved  of  all  subscriptions  or  tests  of  orthodoxy. 
Among  these  was  one  whose  name  was  of  great  import- 
ance,— Mr.  Chandler.  He  even  objected  to  the  Adopt- 
ing Act.  He  was  at  last  won  over  to  give  his  name 
and  contribution  to  the  cause.  Others  very  reluctantly 
endorsed  it.  "Dr.  Benson  talked  in  a  sneering  manner 
of  the  account  of  conversions  in  Northampton,"  pub- 
lished in  England  by  Drs.  Watts  and  Guise.  When  be 
subscribed,  if  was  "with  tlii-  Bneer,  thai  he  was  no 
friend  t<>  subscriptions."  Mr.  Bradbury,  whom  White- 
field  had  once  reproved  for  singing  a  songin  a  tavern,  was 
"a  man  of  a  singular  turn,  which  would  be  offensive  to 


130  HISTORY    OF    TRESBYTERIANISM 

the  greatest  number  of  serious  people."  With  Mr 
Thompson,  Jr.,  who,  though  educated  a  strict  Calvinist, 
had  imbibed  "  the  modern  latitudinarian  principles," 
Davies  had  an  amicable  dispute  about  the  lawfulness 
and  expediency  of  subscribing  tests  of  orthodoxy 
beside  the  Scripture.  Mr.  Bowles  told  him  he  had 
heard  that  Davies's  sermon,  preached  for  Mr.  Chan- 
dler, had  been  complained  of  as  "  too  rigidly  ortho- 
dox." The  estimate  formed  by  the  Calvinistic  clergy, 
of  the  Salter's  Hall  divines,  may  be  judged  of  by  the 
pun  of  one  of  them  when  requested  to  print  his  sermon 
on  the  text,  "Salt  is  good,"  etc.  He  replied  that  "he 
believed  he  would,  and  dedicate  it  to  the  preachers  at 
Salter's  Hall,  for  they  wanted  seasoning."  Mr.  Prior 
told  Davies,  "with  the  appearance  of  great  uneasi- 
ness," that  he  had  heard  "  we  would  admit  none  into 
the  ministry  without  subscribing  the  Westminster  Con- 
fession, and  that  this  report  would  hinder  all  our  suc- 
cess among  the  friends  of  liberty."  Davies's  reply 
shows  with  what  propriety  the  fathers  of  American 
Presbyterianism  have  been  represented  as  ipsissima 
verba  men.  "  I  replied,"  he  says,  "  that  we  allowed  the 
candidate  to  mention  his  objections  against  any  article 
in  the  Confession,  and  the  judicature  judged  whether 
the  articles  objected  against  were  essential  to  Chris- 
tianity ;  and  if  they  judged  they  were  not,  they  would 
admit  the  candidate,  notwithstanding  his  objections." 
"Alas,"  exclaims  Davies,  "  for  the  laxness  that  prevails 
here  among  the  Presbyterians  !" 

Indeed,  English  Presbyterians  no  longer  deserved  the. 
name.  The  Presbyterian  standards  had  been  thrown 
aside.  All  tests  of  orthodoxy  were  universally  rejected. 
Candidates  at  ordination  were  only  required  to  declare 
their  belief  of  the  Scriptures.  Presbyterian  order  and 
discipline  had  fallen  into  total  neglect.  Calvinistic 
preachers  chose  rather  to  consort  with  the  Independ- 


THE    SYNODS    AND    THEIR    SCHOOLS.  131 

ents  and  Baptists  at  Amsterdam  Coffee-Honse,  than 
with  their  brethren  of  the  same  name.  Indeed,  there 
was  nothing  like  government  exercised  jointly  by 
either  body  of  Dissenters.  The  only  associations  of 
the  Independents  were  their  meetings  at  the  Coffee- 
Jlouse,  where  they  assembled  "  for  friendly  conversa- 
tion. The  Presbyterians  have  no  other  Presbyteries. 
The  English  Presbyterians  have  no  elders  nor  judica- 
tories of  any  kind."  It  may  easily  be  perceived  that 
the  title  by  which  they  were  known  was  a  misnomer. 
Grave  errors  had  crept  in  among  them;  but  the  pre- 
sence of  these  errors  was  favored,  not  by  Presbyterian 
discipline,  but  by  its  utter  absence. 

Eepeatedly  the  members  of  the  deputation  were  over- 
whelmed by  discouragement.  Tennent's  trial,  however, 
was  peculiar.  His  Nottingham  sermon  preceded  and 
embarrassed  him  wherever  he  went.  Once  and  again 
he  wished  himself  back  in  Philadelphia.  After  a  month's 
stay  in  London,  Davies  writes,  "  From  the  present  view 
of  things,  I  think  if  we  can  but  clear  our  expenses  we 
shall  be  well  off." 

But  lio-ht  had  be<mn  to  break  in  at  last.     Davies  was 

o  o 

cheered  by  the  interest  which  English  Dissenters  took 
in  the  hardships  of  their  brethren  in  Virginia,  and  the 
prospect  of  that  relief  to  obtain  which  had  been  a  main 
consideration  in  inducing  him  to  accept  the  appoint- 
ment of  the  trustees.  Friends  to  the  college  were 
found,  moreover,  in  unlooked-for  quarters.  In  spite  of 
Mr.  Cross's  letters,  the  representations  emanating  from 
the  hostility  of  the  Philadelphia  Synod,  and  the  preju- 
dice excited  by  the  Nottingham  sermon,  the  friends 
of  the  enterprise  increased  every  day.  The  Presby- 
terians were  not  very  hearty  in  the  cause,  but  they 
generally  subscribed.  At  "  the  Amsterdam  Coffee- 
House,  among  the  Baptist  and  Independent  ministers," 
Davies  enjoyed  most  satisfaction.  At  "  Hamlin's,  among 


132  HISTORY   OP   PRESBYTERTANISM. 

the  Presbyterians,"  he  says,  "  they  are  generally  very 
shy  and  unsociable  to  me."  But  his  tact,  prudence, 
and  perseverance  overcame  great  difficulties.  "A  larger 
account  of  the  college"  was  drawn  up  and  circulated 
for  the  satisfaction  of  contributors.  By  April  7,  1754, 
twelve  hundred  pounds  were  already  secured.  This 
was  an  unexpected  success.  Davies,  upon  his  arrival, 
had  felt  that  "  we  could  not  raise  our  hopes  above  three 
hundred  pounds."  Yet  before  he  and  Tennent  had  set 
out  for  Scotland,  the  amount  had  risen  to  seventeen 
hundred  pounds. 

Scotland  did  not  at  first  appear  a  very  inviting  field 
for  effort.  There  was  reason  to  apprehend  the  influence 
of  the  representations  of  the  Synod  of  Philadelphia 
upon  the  minds  of  the  members  of  the  Assembly. 
Moderatism,  moreover,  was  triumphant  throughout  the 
Church.  "Alas!"  exclaims  Davies,  "there  appears  but 
little  of  the  spirit  of  serious  Christianity  among  the 
young  clergy."  Yet  it  was  exceedingly  important  to 
secure  the  Assembly's  approval  of  the  design  of  the 
college.  "  It  will  be  attended,"  says  Davies,  "  with 
many  happy  consequences ;  particularly  it  will  recom- 
mend our  college  to  the  world,  and  wipe  off  the  odium 
from  the  Synod  of  New  York  as  a  parcel  of  schis- 
matics." 

Although  "  there  was  hardly  ever  a  greater  appear- 
ance of  opposition,"  the  measure  in  favor  of  the  college 
passed  the  Assembly  unanimously.  There  was  not 
even  the  show  of  objection.  The  cause  was  advocated 
by  Lumisden,  Divinity  professor  at  Aberdeen.  He  urged 
the  importance  of  a  learned  ministry,  the  necessity  of 
the  College  of  New  Jersey  to  this  end,  and  the  duty  of 
the  Assembly  to  promote  such  institutions,  especially 
among  the  Presbyterians  of  the  colonies,  "  who  are," 
said  he,  "  a  part  of  ourselves,  having  adopted  the  same 
standard  of  doctrine,  worship,  and  government  with 


THE    SYNODS    AND    THEIR    SCHOOLS.  133 

tliis  Church."  A  national  collection  was  ordered  in  tho 
Scottish  Church,  and  Tennent  crossed  the  Channel  to 
present  the  cause  in  Ireland  at  the  Genera]  Synod. 

Davies  now  retraced  his  steps  to  England,  in  order 
to  visit  the  principal  towns.  Before  he  set  out,  how- 
ever, ho  read  with  admiration  a  piece,  newly  published, 
under  the  title  of  "Ecclesiastical  Characteristics,"  ascribed 
"to  one  Mr.  Weatherspoon,  a  young  minister."  He 
describes  it  as  "a  burlesque  upon  the  high-flyers,  under 
the  ironical  name  of  moderate  men;  audi  think,"  says 
he,  "the  humor  is  nothing  inferior  to  Dean  Swift." 
That  young  minister  was  to  be  Davies's  worthy  suc- 
cessor in  the  presidency  of  the  college. 

Borne  down  by  an  almost  constant  depression  of 
spirits,  Davies  was  yet  incessantly  active.  At  nearly 
every  place  at  which  he  stopped,  he  was  invited  to 
preach,  and  was  listened  to  by  admiring  crowds.  Yet 
his  own  estimate  of  his  efforts  is  very  humble.  Many 
passages  which  had  been  most  effective  among  his  Vir- 
ginia congregations,  he  was  compelled  to  omit.  His 
flagging  spirit  would  not  allow  him  to  deliver  what 
rose  above  the  measure  of  his  own  present  spiritual 
condition.  At  Glasgow  he  preached  six  times  in  ten 
days.  Here,  as  well  as  at  Edinburgh  and  London,  he  was 
urgently  solicited  to  publish  a  collection  of  his  sermons. 

Beturning  to  England,  Davies  again  found  friends 
where  least  expected.  The  Bishop  of  Durham  gave 
him  five  guineas.  He  was  cheered  by  intelligence  from 
Tennent  that  the  General  S}^nod  would  take  up  col- 
lections within  their  bounds.  The  observations,  how- 
ever, which  he  made  upon  the  condition  of  the  Dis- 
senters saddened  him.  At  Hull  he  says,  "  The  word 
orthodox  is  a  subject  of  ridicule  with  many  here."  Tho 
Presbyterians  had  "gone  off  from  the  good  old  doc- 
trines of  the  Reformation."     At  Leeds  he  found  that 

the  Dissenting  ministers   had   "  so  generally   imbibed 
Vol.  I.— 12 


134  HISTORY    OF    PRESBYTERTANISM. 

Arminian  or  Socinian  sentiments,  that  it  was  hard  to 
unite  prudence  and  faithfulness  in  conversation  with 
them."  Admitting  their  learning,  candor,  good  sense, 
and  morality,  their  entertaining  and  instructive  com- 
panionship, as  well  as  friendship  "  to  the  liberty  of 
mankind,"  he  adds,  "  they  deny  the  proper  divinity  and 
satisfaction  of  Jesus  Christ,  on  which  my  hopes  are 
founded.  The  greatest  part  of  the  Presbyterian  minis- 
ters in  England,"  so  far  as  he  had  observed,  had  fallen 
into  this  fundamental  and  fatal  error.  In  consequence, 
they  regarded  his  cause  generally  with  lukewarmness, 
if  not  with  coldness.  "  The  new-fangled  notions,"  and 
apostasy  from  "  the  old-fashioned  faith,"  seriously 
obstructed  his  success.  Sometimes,  indeed,  the  diffi- 
culty was  from  another  quarter.  At  Nottingham, 
"  some  of  the  rigid  Calvinists,"  he  says,  were  "  not 
pleased  with  my  sermon,  because  not  explicit  on 
original  sin.  How  impossible,"  he  adds,  "  to  please 
men !"  Yet  he  collected  at  Nottingham  over  sixty 
pounds. 

By  the  5th  of  October,  1754,  Tennent  had  executed 
his  mission  to  Ireland,  and  succeeded  in  collecting 
about  five  hundred  pounds.  He  joined  Davies  in  Lon- 
don, and  on  the  13th  of  November  embarked  for  Phila- 
delphia. Davies,  who  wished  to  go  at  once  to  Virginia, 
waited  a  few  days  longer  for  a  vessel,  and  on  the  18th — 
just  twelve  months  from  his  embarkation  from  America 
— set  out  on  his  return  voyage.  The  mission  had  been 
eminently  successful.  The  collections  must  have  risen 
to  between  four  and  five  thousand  pounds.  It  was  far 
above  what  either  member  of  the  deputation  had  dared 
to  hope.  It  placed  the  College  of  New  Jersey  upon  a 
sure  basis,  and  cheered  the  hearts  of  all  friendly  to  the 
interests  of  ministerial  or  liberal  education  and  the 
Presbyterian  Church. 

It  was  not  long  after  Davies' s  return  from  England 


THE    SYNODS    AND    THEIR    SCHOOLS.  135 

before  he  was  called  to  make  another  sacrifice,  not 
inferior  to  the  one  which  he  had  already  made  as 
member  of  the  deputation  to  England,  and  in  the  same 
cause.  President  Burr  died  suddenly,  in  the  vigor  of 
his  years,  in  1757,  and  his  father-in-law,  the  great 
Jonathan  Edwards,  was  chosen  as  his  successor.  The 
latter  was  inaugurated  February  16, 1758,  but  died  on 
the  22d  of  the  following  March.  James  Lockwood,  pas- 
tor at  Wethersfield,  Conn.,  was  chosen  to  fill  the  place, 
but  want  of  unanimity,  and  other  circumstances,  pre- 
vented his  acceptance.  All  eyes  were  now  turned 
toward  Mr.  Davies  as  the  man  for  the  vacant  post. 
He  submitted  the  application  to  Presbytery,  and  the 
decision  was  against  his  removal  from  Virginia.  The 
trustees  now  applied  to  the  Synod,  and  urged  their 
interference.  By  them,  after  solemn  deliberation,  Mr. 
Davies  was  dismissed  from  his  people  to  assume  the 
presidency  of  Xassau  Hall. 

lie  accepted  the  post  with  great  reluctance.  It  was 
hard  for  him  to  part  from  a  people  with  whom  it  was 
in  his  heart  to  live  and  die.  But  duty  called,  and  he 
could  not  hesitate.  Yet  his  public  career  was  short. 
He  preached  his  farewell  to  his  people  in  Hanover, 
June  1,  1759,  was  inaugurated  July  26,  1759,  and  on 
February  4,  1761,  he  took  his  farewell  of  earth.  Yet 
he  lived  to  see  the  success  of  the  most  important  en- 
terprise in  which  the  Presbyterian  Church  had  yet 
engaged,  fully  assured. 

While  the  Synod  of  New  York  was  thus  engaged  in 
laying  the  foundations  of  the  College  of  Nassau  Hall, 
the  Synod  of  Philadelphia  was  not  idle.  In  1739,  John 
Thompson,  a  leading  man  of  the  old  side,  proposed  to 
the  Presbytery  of  Donegal  the  erection  of  a  school,  to 
be  placed  under  the  care  of  the  Synod.  The  design 
was  approved  by  the  latter  body  in  May  of  the  same 
year.      Pcmberton,   Dickinson,    Cross,   and   Anderson 


136  HISTORY    OF    PRESBYTERIANISM. 

were  nominated  to  prosecute  the  design,  and  secure 
subscriptions  in  New  England  and  in  Europe.  The  co- 
operation of  the  Boston  clergy  was  assured  through 
Dr.  Coleman,  but  the  breaking  out  of  the  Spanish  war 
in  the  following  year  prevented  the  prosecution  of  the 
design. 

In  1743,  two  years  after  the  division,  the  business 
was  resumed.  The  next  year  the  Synod  approved  the 
design  and  took  the  school  at  New  London,  Pa.,  under 
its  care.  It  was  to  be  supported  by  annual  contributions 
from  the  congregations,  and  "  all  persons  who  please, 
may  send  their  children  and  have  them  instructed  gratis 
in  languages,  philosophy,  and  divinity."  Francis  Alison, 
the  finest  scholar  in  the  two  Synods,  was  appointed  mas- 
ter, and  authorized  to  appoint  his  own  usher.  He  was 
to  be  allowed  by  the  Synod  twenty  pounds  per  annum, 
and  his  assistant  fifteen  pounds.  Several  ministers  and 
gentlemen  contributed  books  to  begin  a  library, — in 
this  respect  imitating  the  example  of  the  founders  of 
Yale. 

In  1749,  the  plan  of  the  school  was  modified.  Mr. 
Alison's  salary  was  increased,  and  tuition  was  allowed. 
In  1752,  he  removed  to  Philadelphia  to  take  charge  of 
the  academy  there.  The  school  received  a  check  by 
his  removal,  although  it  continued  in  operation  under 
the  care  of  Alexander  McDowell,  to  whom,  in  1754, 
Matthew  Wilson  was  added  as  assistant.  The  latter 
was  to  teach  the  languages,  while  McDowell  continued, 
"from  a  sense  of  the  public  good,"  to  teach  logic, 
mathematics,  natural  and  moral  philosophy,  &c. 

In  the  following  year  it  was  ordered  by  Synod  that 
application  be  made  to  the  trustees  of  the  German 
schools  to  procure  a  sum  of  money  to  encourage  the 
Synod's  school.  In  consideration  of  this  aid.it  was  stipu- 
lated that  "  some  Dutch  children"  should  be  taught  the 
English  tongue,  and  three  or  four,  if  they  offered  them- 


THE  SYNODS  AND  THEIR  SCHOOLS.        137 

selves,  Latin  and  Greek.  As  soon  as  this  favor  could 
be  obtained,  Rev.  Sampson  Smith  was  to  open  a  school 
at  Chesnut  Loved. 

A  donation  of  books  had  been  sent  from  Dublin  ;  and 
these  were  to  be  "the  foundation  of  a  public  library, 
under  the  care  of  the  Synod."  None  of  them  were  to 
be  lent  "beyond  Potomac  River."  The  application  to 
the  trustees  of  the  German  schools  was  favorably  enter- 
tained, and  twenty-five  pounds  were  granted  for  the 
year  to  the  Synod's  school.     This  was  in  1757. 

The  union  of  the  Synods  in  the  following  year  opened 
Princeton  College  to  the  Old  as  well  as  the  New  side. 
It  did  not,  however,  supersede  the  educational  labors 
of  ministers  who  were  members  of  the  Synod.  Several 
of  these  had — after  the  manner  of  William  Tennent  at 
Neshaminy — schools  of  their  own.  Some  of  these  were 
continued,  and  accomplished  much  good.  Samuel  Fin- 
ley's  school  at  Nottingham  was  highly  celebrated.  It 
sent  out  a  large  number  of  eminent  men.  Among  them 
were  Governor  Martin,  of  North  Carolina,  Dr.  Benjamin 
Eush,  Colonel  John  Bayard,  Governor  Henry,  of  Mary- 
land, Rev.  Dr.  McWhorter,  the  celebrated  James  "Wad- 
del,  and  Rev.  William  M.  Tennent,  of  Abington.  Finlcy 
was  an  accomplished  scholar  and  a  skilful  teacher,  and 
to  such  eminence  had  he  attained,  that  on  the  death  of 
Davies  he  was  called  to  succeed  him  in  the  presidency 
at  Princeton. 

At  Fagg's  Manor,  Samuel  Blair  established  a  classical 

school,  which  became  scarcely  less  distinguished.     He 

had   been  educated  at  the  Log  College,  and  must  have 

been  one  of  the  first  pupils  of  the  institution.     Among 

those  who  received  from  him  the  substantial  parts  of 

their  education  were  Samuel  Davies,  Alexander  Cum- 

mings,  John  Bodgers,  James  Finley,  and  Hugh  Henry, 

all  of  them  useful  and  some  of  them  distinguished  in 

the  ministry. 

12* 


138  HISTORY   OF   PRESBYTERIANISM. 

Besides  these,  it  is  probable1  that  Andrews  had  a 
school  in  Philadelphia.  Dickinson  had  one  at  Eliza- 
bethtown,  the  germ  of  Nassau  Hall.  Thomas  Evans 
had  one  at  Pencader.  Davies  devoted  a  part  of  his 
time  to  the  training  of  young  men.  The  Old  side 
endeavored  to  give  their  institution  at  New  London, 
under  Alison,  a  higher  rank  than  those  established  by 
individual  enterprise.  They  corresponded  with  Presi- 
dent Clap,  of  Yale  College,  to  secure  for  their  students 
a  diploma  on  easy  terms.  In  their  reply  to  Clap's 
inquiries,  they  speak  in  no  very  respectful  tone  of 
Tennent's  school  at  Neshaminy.  They  aimed  at  some- 
thing higher,  but  they  failed  to  secure  what  they  desired. 
The  New  side  were  foremost — in  spite  of  the  reproach 
cast  on  the  Tennents — in  the  cause  of  education. 


CHAPTEB  IX. 

THE    SYNOD    OF    NEW  YORK    AND    PHILADELPHIA,  1758-1775. 

The  basis  upon  which  the  Synod  of  New  York  and 
Philadelphia  was  erected  was  one  upon  which  the  two 
Synods  could  consistently  unite.2  The  first  article  of 
the  "plan"  was  to  this  effect: — "Both  Synods  having 
always  approved  and  received  the  Westminster  Confes- 
sion of  Faith  and  Larger  and  Shorter  Catechisms  as  an 
orthodox  and  excellent  system  of  Christian  doctrine, 
founded  on  the  word  of  God,  we  do  still  receive  the 
same  as  the  Confession  of  our  Faith,  and  also  adhere 
to  the  plan  of  worship,  government,  and  discipline  con- 

1  Webster,  124.     The  grounds  of  probability  are  not  stated. 

2  Minutes  of  Synod,  p.  286. 


SYNOD   OF   NEW   YORK   AND   PHILADELPHIA.         139 

tained  in  the  Westminster  Directory  strictly  enjoining 
it  upon  all  oar  members  and  probationers  for  the  minis- 
try, that  they  preach  and  teach  according  to  the  form 
of  sound  words  in  said  Confession  and  Catechisms,  and 
avoid  and  oppose  all  errors  contrary  t  hereto." 

In  case  of  a  decision  l.y  the  majority  of  a  Presbytery 
or  Synod,  the  minority  were  actively  to  concur,  or  pas- 
sively submit,  or,  if  this  could  not  be  done,  the  indi- 
vidual, after  sufficient  liberty  of  remonstrance,  was 
peaceably  to  withdraw.  Protest  was  allowable  and 
entitled  to  record,  provided  always  that  the  protest 
was  not  to  be  against  members,  or  introduce  facts  and 
accusations  without  proof,  till  fair  trial  had  been 
refused.  The  protest  of  1741,  as  a  Synodical  act,  Mas 
fully  disavowed,  and  declared  invalid  as  an  objection 
to  the  union.  No  accusation  affecting  ministerial 
standing  was  to  be  brought  otherwise  than  by  private 
brotherly  admonition,  or  by  regular  process.  No  Pres- 
bytery might  make  appointments  within  the  bounds 
of  another  without  their  consent,  nor  one  member  offi- 
ciate in  another's  congregation  without  his  permission; 
although  when  the  privilege  was  asked  it  was  to  be 
accounted  unbrotherly  to  refuse.  Candidates  for  licen- 
sure or  ordination  were  to  give  satisfaction  as  to  their 
learning,  Christian  experience,  and  skill  in  divinity, 
declaring  their  acceptance  of  the  Confession  of  Faith, 
and  promising  subjection  to  the  Presbyterian  plan  of 
government.  The  several  Presbyteries  were  to  con- 
tinue in  their  present  form  where  an  alteration  did  not 
appear  for  edification ;  and  divided  congregations,  each 
supplied  with  a  pastor,  were  to  be  allowed  to  continue 
such  if  they  preferred.  Yet,  to  promote  a  complete 
union  as  soon  as  possible,  the  united  Synod  might 
model  the  several  Presbyteries  as  might  seem  most 
expedient. 

In  regard  to  the  revival,  the  members  of  the  New 


140  HISTORY   OF   I'llESBYTERIANISM. 

York  Synod  were  left  free  to  declare,  and  did  declare 
upon  the  record,  their  adherence  to  their  former  senti- 
ments in  its  favor,  and  that  a  blessed  work  of  God's 
Holy  Spirit  in  the  conversion  of  numbers  had  been 
carried  on ;  that,  where  certain  features  of  conviction 
and  Christian  experience  were  present,  exceptionable 
circumstances  did  not  warrant  the  rejection  of  it,  or 
its  denial  as  "  a  gracious  work  of  God."  In  regard  to 
particular  facts,  the  judgment  of  members  of  the  pre- 
sent Synod  might  differ;  but  in  their  sentiments  con- 
cerning the  nature  of  a  work  of  grace  they  were 
agreed.  In  conclusion,  all  under  the  care  of  the  Synod 
were  recommended  to  beware  of  a  contentious  disposi- 
tion, to  study  peace  and  mutual  edification,  and  it  was 
agreed  that  "  all  former  differences  and  disputes  are 
laid  aside  and  buried." 

"If  much  evil  had  resulted  from  the  division,  there 
were  some  lessons  which  it  taught  of  no  slight  value, 
and  the  tide  of  excited  and  conflicting  feeling  at  least 
left  behind  it,  in  the  basis  on  which  the  united  Synod 
was  erected,  something  better  than  ordinary  drift-wood. 
The  principles  of  the  Church  were  more  clearly  defined. 
The  liberal  and  tolerant  spirit  of  compromise  which 
conceded  to  both  parties  equal  orthodoxy,  although 
one  was  strenuous  for  some  things  accounted  by  the 
other  non-essential,  was  especially  manifest.  The 
essential  features  of  a  work  of  grace,  and  of  Christian 
experience,  were  admitted  and  acknowledged  by  both 
parties ;  and  they  came  together  with  lessons  of  for- 
bearance and  mutual  concession  that  were  of  the  high- 
est importance. 

Few  changes  were  made  by  the  Synod  in  the  model- 
ling of  the  several  Presbyteries.  That  of  New  Bruns- 
wick remained  as  before,  except  that  Cowell,  of  Trenton, 
and  Guild,  of  Hopewell,  were  added  to  it.1     New  York 

1  Minutes  of  Synod,  288. 


SYNOD  OF  NEW  YORK  AND  PHILADELPHIA.    141 

and  Suffolk  were  continued  without  any  change.  Tho 
Presbytery  of  Philadelphia  was  to  consisl  of  ( 
Gilbert Tennent,  Alison, Treat, Chesnut,  .Martin.  Beatty, 
Greenman,  Hunter,  Ramsey,  Lawrence,  and  Kinkead, 
— nearly  equally  from  the  Old  and  New  Bides.  Lewes 
Presbytery  was  to  consist  of  John  Miller,  Tuttle,  Harris, 
Henry,  and  Wilson  ;  while  the  First  and  Second  Pres- 
byteries of  New  Castle  and  Donegal,  each  of  them 
divided  in  1741  by  the  protest,  were  left  for  the  present 
without  change. 

At  the  same  time,  also,  the  Presbytery  of  Hanover  in 
Virginia  was  constituted.  It  embraced  Davies,  Todd, 
Henry,  Wright,  Brown,  Martin,  and  Craighead,  of  the 
New  side;  and  Black,  Craig,  and  Alexander  Miller,  of 
the  Old  side, — the  last  three  laboring  in  the  Great  Val- 
ley, and  the  former,  with  the  exception  of  Craighead 
in  North  Carolina,  east  of  the  mountains,  in  the  neigh- 
borhood of  Hanover. 

A  committee  of  correspondence  with  the  churches  in 
Britain  and  Ireland  was  appointed,  and  one  of  the  sub- 
jects of  their  correspondence  with  England  wTas  to  be 
the  aid  from  trustees  in  London  for  the  fund  raised  for 
German  emigrants,  with  a  view  to  securing  aid  for 
educating  youths  for  the  ministry.1 

The  Synod  closed  its  session  by  the  appointment  of 
a  day  of  fasting  and  prayer.  It  was  the  day  already 
appointed  by  the  government;  and,  in  view  of  the 
calamities  of  war,  the  danger  from  unchristian  foes, 
and  the  sins  of  ingratitude,  religious  decay,  vice,  and 
immorality,  the  Synod  was  led  to  recommend  its  observ- 
ance with  a  view  to  "  deprecate  the  wrath  of  God,  to 
pray  for  a  blessing  on  Jlis  .Majesty's  armaments  by 
land  and  sea.  in  order  to  procure  a  lasting  and  honor- 
able peace/'  for  '-the  overthrow  of  unchristian  errors, 

i  Minutes  of  Synod,  290. 


142  HISTORY    OF    PRESBYTERIANISM. 

superstition,  and  tyranny,  and  the  universal  spread  of 
pure  and  undefiled  religion." 

Through  the  period  extending  from  the  union  of 
the  Synods  to  the  commencen.ent  of  the  Revolutionary 
War,  the  growth  of  the  Church  was  rapid  and  almost 
uninterrupted.  The  troubles  of  the  division  were  still 
felt,  however,  within  the  bounds  of  Donegal,1  New 
Castle,  and  Philadelphia  Presbyteries.  Donegal  peti- 
tioned (1765),  against  the  remonstrance  of  a  strong 
minority,  for  a  division  into  two  Presbyteries;2  or,  in 
case  this  was  refused,  that  the  members  added  to  them 
when  the  Presbyteries  were  remodelled  might  be 
ordered  to  return  to  their  former  judicatures.  Declin- 
ing the  request,  the  Synod  formed,  of  the  ministers  west 
of  the  Susquehanna,  the  new  Presbytery  of  Carlisle,  and 
annexed  the  others  to  the  Presbytery  of  New  Castle, 
thenceforth  to  be  known  by  the  name  of  Lancaster. 
The  old  members  of  Donegal  Presbytery  felt  them- 
selves greatly  aggrieved  by  this  arrangement,  and  it 
was  brought  before  Synod  again  in  the  following  year. 
Several  expedients  were  proposed  for  relieving  the  dif- 
ficulties which  existed,  but  it  was  finally  resolved  to 
revive  and  restore  the  Presbyteries  of  Donegal  and 
New  Castle.  This,  however,  was  far  from  satisfactory. 
The  Old-side  members  of  Donegal,  seven  in  number, 
refused  to  unite  with  that  Presbytery.  They  met  by 
themselves,  assuming  the  old  name  for  the  Presbytery 
which  they  claimed  to  constitute,  and  wrote  to  the 
Synod,  declaring  themselves  "  laid  under  the  disagree- 
able necessity  of  entering  a  declination  from  its  juris- 


1  In  1759  the  First  and  Second  Presbyteries  of  New  Castle  were 
united,  and  Messrs.  Sampson  Smith,  Robert  Smith,  John  Roan,  and 
John  Hogge,  were  added  to  Donegal  Presbytery. — 3Iinutes,  292.  In 
the  course  of  the  six  yeai'3  which  followed,  dissatisfactions  arose.— 
Ibid.  350.  2  Minutes,  348-9. 


SYNOD    OF    NEW    YORK    AND    THILADELFHIA.         143 

diction."1  Nothing  was  left  for  the  Synod  but  to  pro- 
nounce them  no  longer  members  of  the  body.  In  1768, 
they  applied  to  be  received  and  acknowledged,  but 
their  request  was  refused,  except  on  the  condition  that 
they  should  unite  with  the  Presbytery  of  Donegal  pro- 
perly constituted.  If  this  condition  were  complied  with, 
the  Synod  declared  itself  not  indisposed  to  remodel  the 
Presbyteries  in  such  a  manner  as  to  give  the  best  satis- 
faction which  the  circumstances  of  the  case  allowed. 
The  proposal  was  then  made  to  allow  the  dissatisfied 
members  to  unite  as  they  were  willing  with  the  Presby- 
teries of  Donegal,  New  Castle,  and  Philadelphia  Second, 
and  this  proposal  was  accepted, — four  members  of  the 
Presbytery  of  Donegal,  Dufficld,  Cooper,  Slemmons, 
and  Eoan,  entering  their  dissent.2 

The  Second  Presbytery  of  Philadelphia  was  thus 
strengthened  by  the  accession  of  several  of  the  Old- 
side  members  of  Donegal,  viz. :  Steel,  Elder,  Tate,  and 
McMordie.  This  Presbytery  had  been  formed  mainly 
of  the  Old-side  members  of  the  Presbytery  of  Phila- 
delphia, in  1762.3  It  consisted  originally  of  Robert 
Cross,  Francis  Alison,  John  Ewing,  John  Simonton, 
and  James  Latta.  Cross  had  been  the  leader,  and 
Alison  the  scholar,  of  the  Old  side.  Ewing,  pastor  of 
the  First  Presbyterian  Church  of  Philadelphia, — and 
thus  associated  wTith  Cross, — and  Latta,  settled  the  pre- 
vious year  as  pastor  at  Deep  Eun,  were  both  pupils  of 
Alison,  and  had  been  for  some  years  tutors  of  the  col- 
lege over  which  he  presided.  The  Presbytery  was 
thus  formed  on  the  elective  affinity  principle,  and,  much 
to  the  dissatisfaction  of  many  of  the  Synod,  professed 
to  be  conscientiously  opposed  to  the  practice  of  examin- 
ing candidates  for  the  ministry  as  to  their  experimental 
acquaintance  with  religion.   So  strong,  indeed,  was  their 

1  Minutes,  3C6.  ■  Ibid.  383,  384.  3  Ibid.  321. 


144  HISTORY   OP    PRESBYTER1ANISM 

feeling,  that  they  declared  that,  sooner  than  belong  to 
a  Presbytery  which  adopted  the  practice,  they  would 
break  off  from  all  connection  with  the  Synod." 

The  attempt  was  made,  but  in  vain,  in  1766.  to  reunite 
the  First  and  Second  Presbyteries  of  Philadelphia.  The 
decision  of  the  Synod  was  in  favor  of  the  continued 
separate  existence  of  a  body  which,  in  the  judgment 
of  many,  only  served  to  perpetuate  old  party  lines,  and 
seemed  "  to  indicate  a  temper  of  schismatical  tend- 
ency."1 It  was  maintained  that  the  Synod  involved 
itself  in  a  self-contradiction  in  erecting  a  Presbytery 
which  refused  to  examine  candidates  for  the  ministry 
in  regard  to  the  subject  of  personal  religious  expe- 
rience. The  precedent,  moreover,  was  declared  to  be  a 
bad  one,  and  injurious  in  its  tendency  to  perpetuate 
division.  In  spite,  however,  of  all  objections,  the 
Second  Presbytery  was  still  continued ;  and,  although 
the  attendance  of  its  members  at  meetings  of  Synod 
was  quite  irregular,  it  received  an  accession  of  mem- 
bers who  strongly  sympathized  with  it. 

Of  these,  Patrick  Allison  was  the  first  to  join  it.  A 
pupil  of  his  namesake,  Dr.  Alison,  at  the  institution  in 
which  the  latter  was  Yice-Provost,  he  was  ordained  by 
the  Second  Presbytery,  and  took  charge,  in  1765,  of 
the  first  church  gathered  at  Baltimore.  In  1768,  Elder, 
Steel,  and  McMordie  were  transferred  to  it  from  the 
Presbytery  of  Donegal.  Two  years  later,  Samuel  Eakin, 
who  gave  the  Synod  no  little  trouble  by  his  conduct, 
was  received,  and  in  1772  Hugh  McGill,  from  Ireland, 
who  proved  scarcely  less  obnoxious.  In  1773  they 
ordained Kobert  Davidson.  Their  licentiates  during  the 
period  were  James  Long,  Thomas  Read,  afterward  of 
Delaware,  John  King,  and  John  McLean,  who  went  to 
the  Carolinas. 

1  Minutes,  355. 


SYNOD  OF  NEW  YORK  AND  PHILADELPHIA.    145 

In  1772,  Greorge  Duffield  was  called  to  the  Pine  Street 
Church  of  Philadelphia;  and,  although  dismissed  from 
and  recommended  by  the  Presbytery  of  Donegal,  the 
Second  Presbytery  of  Philadelphia  refused  to  receive 
him.1  On  the  question  of  his  settlement,  the  feelings 
of  animosity  between  the  Old  and  New  side  were 
revived,  and  the  attempt  was  made  to  exclude  him 
from  the  church.  Both  parties  applied  to  the  Synod, — 
Mr.  Duffield  by  complaint  of  the  proceedings  of  the 
Presbytery,  and  the  incorporated  committee  of  the 
Market  and  Pine  Street  churches  by  petition  and 
remonstrance.  The  Synod  pronounced  that  Mr.  Duf- 
field had  just  cause  of  complaint,  declared  him  minis- 
ter of  the  Third  Presbyterian  congregation  of  Philadel- 
phia, and  ordered  that  he  be  put  upon  the  list  of  the 
Second  Presbytery. 

Except  within  the  bounds  of  the  Presbyteries  of 
Donegal  and  Philadelphia  Second,  the  disastrous  influ- 
ence of  the  division  soon  disappeared.  In  the  Presby- 
tery of  Hanover,  the  Old-side  members  of  the  Valley 
and  the  New-side  east  of  the  mountains,  were  not  in 
entire  sympathy;  and  the  former — on  the  ground,  how- 
ever, of  their  distance  from  their  brethren — asked  to  be 
formed  into  a  separate  Presbytery.  The  petition  was 
not  approved  by  the  Synod,  but  assurance  was  given 
that,  when  a  sufficient  number  to  warrant  the  erection 
of  a  new  Presbytery  should  be  secured,  the  request 
should  be  granted.2 

Meanwhile  (1763),  an  application  was  presented  to 
Synod  from  a  Presbytery  in  New  York  on  the  east  of 
the  Hudson,  desiring  to  be  incorporated  with  tho 
Synod  and  to  be  strengthened  by  members  set  off  from 
the  Presbyteries  of  New  York  and  Suffolk.  The  appli- 
cation was  favorably  received,  and  John   Smith   and 


1  Minutes,  433  2  jb-  292. 

Vol.  I.— 13 


146  HISTORY    OF    PRESBYTERIANISM. 

Chauncey  Graham,  of  New  York  Presbytery,  and 
Eliphalet  Ball  and  Samuel  Sackett,  of  Suffolk  Presby- 
tery, were  united  with  them  to  constitute  the  Dutchess 
county  Presbytery.1 

In  1766,  the  Presbytery  was  represented  in  Synod, 
and,  besides,  the  members  set  off  from  Suffolk  and  New 
York,  it  consisted  (1768)  of  Wheeler  Case,  Ichabod2 
Lewis,  Elisha  Kent,  Solomon  Mead,  Joseph  Peck,3  and 
Samuel  Dunlop.  The  churches  which  first  came  under 
the  care  of  Presbytery  had  been  organized  for  several 
years, — some  of  them  by  the  Fairfield  and  Litchfield 
Associations  of  Connecticut,  and  others  by  the  Presby- 
tery of  New  York. 

It  was  in  October  (27th),  1762,  that  three  ministers, 
Solomon  Mead,  of  South  Salem,  and  Joseph  Peck  and 
Elisha  Kent,  pastors  of  churches  in  Philips  Precinct, 
between  Eishkill  and  South  Salem,  met  to  consult 
about  forming  a  Presbytery.4     Their  conclusions  were 

1  In  1765  (Minutes,  p.  39),  we  read,  "There  is  no  account  from 
Dutchess  county  Presbytery,  whether  they  have  regularly  formed 
themselves  according  to  the  order  of  the  Synod." 

2  Thomas  Lewis  in  the  Minutes, — which  is  probably  a  mistake. 

3  The  name  is  repeatedly  written  James  in  the  Minutes, — some- 
times, perhaps,  abbreviated  for  Joseph.  Dr.  Hodge  incorrectly 
writes  it  John. 

4  A  letter  from  Dr.  Johnston,  of  Newburgh,  on  the  files  of  the  church 
of  Poughkeepsie,  is  the  authority  for  the  statement  in  the  text.  A 
manuscript  letter  from  Darius  Peck,  Esq.,  of  Hudson,  enables  me  to 
trace  the  Presbyterianism  of  Dutchess  county  to  a  Milford  origin. 
The  Presbyterian  church  at  Milford  was  organized  by  a  secession 
from  the  Congregational  church  in  1741.  It  was  at  the  very  crisis 
of  the  agitation  between  the  Old  and  New  side  in  the  Synod.  One 
of  the  first  members  of  the  Milford  church  was  Joseph  Peck,  a 
descendant,  doubtless,  of  one  of  the  early  settlers  of  the  town  who 
bore  the  same  name.  For  a  time  a  Rev.  Mr.  Kent  supplied  the 
pulpit. — (Lambert's  History  of  New  Haven  Colony.)  This  was  un- 
questionably Elisha  Kent  who,  twelve  years  before,  was  graduated 
at  Yale,  and  f  )r  several  years  was  pastor  of  Newtown,  Conn.    He  is 


SYNOD    OF    NEW    YOBK    AND    PHILADELPHIA.         147 

in  favor  of  the  measure,  and  they  proceeded,  by  prayer 
and  the  adoption  of  the  Confession  and  Catechisms,  to 
form  themselves  into  a  Presbytery.  In  the  following 
spring  they  applied  to  the  Synod  to  be  received.  Their 
request  was  granted,  as  has  been  stated :  the  two 
members  from  New  York  Presbytery,  and  the  two 
from  Suffolk,  were  added  to  their  number.  In  17G5 
their  number  had  been  increased  by  the  accession  of 
William  llanna,  settled  at  Albany,  Samuel  Dunlop, 
] iast or  of  the  Scotch-Irish  congregation  at  Cherry  Val- 
ley, and  Wheeler  Case,  a  licentiate  of  Suffolk  Presby- 
tery, who  succeeded  Mr.  Graham  as  pastor  at  Pough- 
keepsie,  in  connection  with  which  he  ministered  to  the 
church  in  Charlotte  Precinct,  but  better  known  sub- 
sequently, and  at  the  present  time,  as  the  church  of 
Pleasant  Valley.  Previous  to  1770,  the  Presbytery 
ordained  Samuel  Mills  and  Ichabod  Lewis,  who  became 
permanent  members  of  the  body,  and  in  1772  they  re- 
ceived Benjamin  Strong  from  Fairfield  Association. 

Of  these  early  members  of  the  Presbytery,  Elisha 
Kent  was  settled  over  a  church  in  Philips  Precinct, 
not  far  from  Fishkill,  in  the  place  early  known  as 
Kent's  Parish.  He  was  a  graduate  of  Yale  College  in 
1729,  and  for  several  years  afterward  was  settled  at 


the  only  minister  of  the  name  of  Kent  discoverable  at  this  period. 
In  1748,  he  had  been  for  sometime  settled  at  Philippi,  or  Phillips- 
town,  below  Fishkill.  Joseph  Peck,  associated  with  him  in  labors 
in  the  same  region, — Philips  Precinct, — was  not  a  graduate  of 
Yale  or  Princeton,  and  must  have  studied  with  some  minister.  In 
the  circumstances,  it  seems  probable  that  he  was  a  son  of  the  Joseph 
Peck  of  Milford,  that  he  studied  with  Mr.  Kent,  and  that  the  two 
removed  at  nearly  the  same  time  to  settle  upon  the  Hudson  in 
neighboring  churches.  Solomon  Mead,  of  the  class  of  1748  at  Yale 
soon  after  came  into  the  same  region,  settling  at  South  Salem 
The  three  churches,  South  Salem,  and  the  two  of  Philips  Precinct, 
— now  probably  Kent  and  Phillipstown,  or  Cold  Spring, — were 
within  a  few  miles  of  each  other. 


148  HISTORY    OF    PRESBYTERIANISM. 

Newtown,  Conn.  After  his  removal  from  this  place,  he 
supplied  for  a  time  the  (New-side)  church  at  Milford, 
and  probably  about  the  year  1742  removed  to  Putnam 
county,  N.Y.,  taking  charge  of  the  first  church  gathered 
in  all  this  region.  There  is  reason  to  believe  that  this 
was  largely  composed  of  families  who  had  removed 
at  about  the  same  time  from  the  vicinity  of  Newtown 
and  Milford,  Conn.,  to  whom  he  was  known,  and  by 
whom  he  was  invited  to  become  their  minister.  The 
first  notice  we  have  of  him  in  this  new  field  is  as  Bel- 
lamy's correspondent,  in  1749. 

"  Kent's  Parish"  embraced  undoubtedly  a  large  field, 
including  not  only  Kent, — the  town  which  commemo- 
rates the  family  to  which  Chancellor  Kent  belonged,1 — 
but  the  town  of  South-East,  where  a  settlement  had 
been  effected  as  early  as  1730. 2  In  1737,  "  South-East- 
town"  was  formed  as  a  precinct,  and  by  this  time  quite 
a  large  number  of  families  had  located  within  the  cir- 
cuit of  a  few  miles.  The  pastorate  of  Mr.  Kent  con- 
tinued till  some  time  after  the  commencement  of  the 
war;  and  Fredericksburg,  where  Samuel  Mills  was  sub- 
sequently settled,  is  probably  the  same  with  South-East 
and  "Kent's  Parish."  The  other  church  within  the 
limits  of  Philips  Precinct  was  that  under  the  care  of 
Joseph  Peck,  located  in  Philipstown, — the  Philippi  of 
1789, — where  several  families  had  settled  as  early  as 
1730.3  His  pastorate  continued  till  about  1770  •*  and 
during  the  Avar,  Ichabod  Lewis,  who  had  been  forced 
to  leave  his  own  field,  probably  supplied  this  place. 

1  Chancellor  Kent  was  the  grandson  of  Rev.  Elisha  Kent. 

2  New  York  Gazetteer.  The  statement  there  made  that  Mr.  Kent 
began  to  preach  at  South-East  in  1730  is  probably  incorrect.  He 
graduated  in  1729,  and  labored  for  several  years  at  Newtown  and 
Milford. 

3  A  Mr.  Davenport  is  said  to  have  built  the  first  house  at  Cold 
Spring,  in  1715.  4  Probably  settled  at  New  Fairfield  in  1774. 


SYNOD   OF    NEW    YORK    AND    PHILADELPHIA.         149 

The  church  of  which  Solomon  Mead  was  pastor  was 
gathered  about  the  year  1750,  or  very  soon  after  tho 
settlement  of  the  town.  The  first  notice  of  the  church 
occurs  May  19,  1752,  "  when  a  convention  of  ministers 
assembled  at  Salem,  upon  the  desire  of  the  people,"1  to 
install  Solomon  Mead  as  pastor  of  the  church.  A 
graduate  of  Yale  Collide  in  1748,  Mr.  Mead  was  proba- 
bly from  the  town  of  Greenwich,  where  families  of  that 
name  had  early  settled;  and  it  is  to  be  presumed  that 
the  convention  of  ministers  was  an  ecclesiastical  coun- 
cil composed  of  Connecticut  pastors  settled  on  the 
western  border  of  the  State.  The  pastorate  of  Mr. 
Mead  continued  till  1800,  although  his  life  was  pro- 
tracted till  1812,  and  to  the  ripe  age  of  eighty-six  years 
he  continued  the  patriarch  of  the  Presbytery,  venerated 
far  and  near  for  his  piety  and  his  worth. 

Chauncey  Graham — till  his  transfer  by  the  Synod,  a 
member  of  New  York  Presbytery — was  the  son  of 
John  Graham,  for  many  years  pastor  of  Southbury, 
Conn.2  Rumbout,  near  Fishkill,  was  organized  as  a 
church,  July  3,  1748,  and  Poughkeepsie  was  "gathered" 
in  July,  1750,  by  a  committee  of  the  Presbytery  of  New 
York.  Of  these  two  churches,  Graham,  who  had  been 
graduated  at  Yale  College  but  a  little  more  than  two 
years  previous,  was  ordained  pastor,  January  29,  1749- 
50,  by  an  ecclesiastical  council,  consisting  of  Messrs. 
Stoddard,  Case,  Judson,3  and  their  "messengers."  Mills 
and  Bellamy  were  invited,  but  did  not  attend.  In  the 
following  year.  Graham,  whose  father  was  a  native  of 
Scotland,  united  with  the  Presbytery  of  New  York, 
and  was  present  at  the  meeting  of  the  Synod  at  Newark 


i  Bolton's  West.  Chester  County,  i.  2G8.  2  Webster. 

3  Anthony  Stoddard,  of  Woodbury  ;  Eenajah  Case,  of  New  Fair- 
field; and  David  Judson,  of  Newtown.  The  Mr.  Mills  invited  was 
Jedediah  Mills,  of  Huntington. 

13* 


150  HISTORY    OF   PRESBYTERIANISM. 

in  1751.  For  several  years  after  the  Presbytery  was 
formed  in  1763,  he  was  its  stated  clerk.  He  left  Pough- 
keepsie  in  1752,  after  which  it  was  dependent  on  stated 
supplies  till  the  settlement  of  Wheeler  Case,  in  1765, 
over  Pleasant  Valley  and  Poughkeepsie.  Mr.  Graham 
was  dismissed  in  1773,  and  died  in  1784. 

John  Smith — settled  at  Eye  and  White  Plains,  having 
been  ordained  by  the  Fairfield  Association  (probably 
May  15, 1729) * — was  the  son  of  Thomas  Smith,  of  New 
York,  one  of  the  leading  men  who  seceded  from  Ander- 
son's congregation  and  invited  Jonathan  Edwards  to 
preach  to  them.  He  was  an  intimate  friend  of  Edwards, 
and  yet  did  not  unite  with  the  Presbytery  of  New  York 
until  1752.  His  ministry  continued  till  his  death  in 
1771,  although,  at  his  request,  Ichabod  Lewis  was  set- 
tled as  his  colleague  for  several  of  the  closing  years  of 
his  life.2 

Samuel  Sackett  commenced  his  labors3  at  Crumpond4 
and  Cortland  Manor  (now  Yorktown  and  Peekskill) 
as  early  as  1742.  In  1743,  he  was  installed  at  Bedford, 
and  directed  to  visit  the  Highlands.  His  labors  were 
extended  to  Crumpond,  Salem,  and  Cortland  Manor, — 
although  only  occasionally,  except  at  Crumpond,  which 
he  supplied  half  the  time  from  1747  to  1749.  In  1753, 
his  adoption  of  the  views  of  Edwards  and  Bellamy  on 
the  subject  of  baptism  led  to  alienation  of  feeling  on 
the  part  of  his  people,  and  his  resignation  of  his  office. 
In  1761,  after  having  labored  for  several  years  at  Han- 
over, in  Cortland  Manor,  he  was  installed  at  Crum- 
pond. 

Eliphalet  Ball  succeeded  Sackett  at  Bedford,  and, 

i  Webster,  652. 

2  Probably  in  1766-67,  as  Mr.  Lewis  was  a  graduate  of  Yale  in 
1765.  3  Webster,  546. 

*  Ibid.  A  congregation  was  formed  at  Crumpond  in  1738-39.  The 
land  for  the  meeting-house  was  given  January  2,  1739. 


SYNOD    OF    NEW    YORK    AND    PHILADELPHIA.  151 

along  with  him,  was  a  member  of  the  Suffolk  Presby- 
tery until  transferred  to  the  Dutchess  county  Presby- 
tery. His  pastorate  continued,  with  the  exception  of 
four  years  (1768-1772),  till  1784.  In  1788,  he  removed 
wTith  a  part  of  his  Bedford  congregation  to  the  place 
which  from  him  received  the  name  which  it  still 
retains, — Ball's-town  (Ballston). 

William  Ilanna,  of  Albany,  was  another  of  the  early 
members  of  the  Presbytery.  He  was  a  native  of  Litch- 
field county,  and  a  licentiate  of  the  Litchfield  Associa- 
tion. In  spite  of  Bellamy's  dissuasives,  he  was  ordained 
in  1761,  by  a  council  of  Connecticut  ministers,  consist- 
ing of  Graham,  of  Southbury,  Lee,  of  Salisbury,  and 
Gold  and  Smith,  of  Sharon.  The  church  placed  itself 
under  the  care  of  the  Presbytery,  and  he  was  received 
as  a  member  in  1763. 

Still  another  of  the  early  members  of  the  body  was 
Samuel  Dunlop,  of  Cherry  Yalley.  In  1741,  he  had 
commenced  his  labors  on  this  outpost  of  civilization, 
among  a  people  whom  he  had  induced  to  follow  him 
into  the  wilderness.  A  native  of  the  north  of  Ireland, 
he  applied  himself  with  success  to  his  countrymen  set- 
tled in  Londonderry,  N.H.,  and  quite  a  number  of  Pres- 
byterian families  were  induced  to  cast  in  their  lot  with 
his.  The  result  wTas  the  formation  of  the  church  of 
Cherry  Valley,  which  came  under  the  charge  of  the 
Presbytery  soon  after  the  latter  was  erected.1 

AY  heeler  Case,  a  licentiate  of  Suffolk  Presbytery, 
was  the  first  pastor  of  Pleasant  Valley,  wThere  he  com- 
menced  bis  Labors  in  November,  1765. 2  Poughkeepsie 
for  some  years  formed  a  portion  of  his  charge,  but 
during  the  war  it  became  so  enfeebled  as  to  be  virtually 
extinct.3     Mr.  Case  continued  in  the  pastorate  of  Plea- 


1  History  of  Londonderry.     Campbell's  Tryon  County. 

3  N.Y.  Gazetteer.  3  Mr.  Ludlow's  Historical  Sermon. 


152  HISTORY    OF    PRESBYTERIANISM. 

sant  Yalley  for  more  than  twenty  years,  and  was  a 
member  of  the  Presbytery  from  the  date  of  his  settle- 
ment. 

In  1769,  Samuel  Mills,  a  graduate  of  Yale  College  in 
1765,  was  settled  at  Bedford,  and  became  a  member  of 
the  Presbytery.  For  seventeen  years  his  pastorate 
continued ;  and  he  was  repeatedly  appointed  a  delegate 
to  the  convention  of  Congregational  and  Presbyterian 
ministers  that  met  annually  previous  to  the  war. 

Ichabod  Lewis,  a  classmate  of  Mills  at  Yale  College, 
was  called  as  colleague  of  John  Smith  at  Eye  and 
White  Plains,  at  about  the  same  time  that  Mills  was 
settled  at  Bedford.  The  burning  of  the  church-edifice 
and  the  insecurity  of  the  whole  region  forced  him,  in 
1776,  to  withdraw  northward,  where — residing  at 
Salem — he  supplied  for  several  years  the  church  at 
Philippi,  his  friend  Mills  also  having  removed  to  take 
charge  of  the  adjoining  parish  of  Fredericksburg. 

In  1770,  Benjamin  Strong,  who  for  many  years  had 
been  settled  at  North  Stanwich,  on  the  western  border 
of  Connecticut,  became  a  member  of  the  body.  He 
did  not,  however,  remain  many  years  in  the  connec- 
tion. 

In  1766,  John  Close  was  licensed,  and,  in  1775,  David 
Close  was  ordained  by  the  Presbytery.  The  last  labored 
for  a  time  within  its  bounds ;  the  other  found  a  desti- 
tute and  inviting  field  on  the  west  of  the  Hudson. 

On  the  west  side  of  the  Hudson,  Presbyterian 
churches  were  organized  at  an  early  period.  Smith,  in 
his  history  of  New  York,  speaks  of  the  large  number 
of  Scotch-Irish  who  settled  in  Orange  and  Ulster  coun- 
ties. The  very  names  of  these  are  significant  of  the 
nationality  of  the  first  immigrants.  The  church  at 
Goshen  was  organized  previous  to  1721,  when  John 
Bradner  became  its  first  pastor.  Here  he  remained  for 
eleven  years,  and  was  succeeded  by  John  Tudor  and 


SYNOD  OF  NEW  YORK  AND  PHILADELPHIA.    153 

Silas  Leonard, — the  last,  pastor  from  1738  to  i7<">4.  In 
L766,  Nathan  Ker  commenced  his  pastorate  of  the 
church,  which  continued  down  to  L804.1 

As  early  as  L729,  an  application  to  the  Synod  of 
Philadelphia  for  supplies  of  preaching  among  them 
was  made  by  the  people  of  Wall  Kill,  through  their 
commissioner,  John  McNeal.  In  the  course  of  the  fol- 
lowing year,  they  were  supplied  in  part  by  Gelston, 
who  had  previously  been  a  member  of  Suffolk  Presby- 
tery, but  in  1735  was  reported  as  laboring  in  the 
Highlands,  where  rumors  against  his  character  led  to 
his  trial  and  suspension  from  the  ministry.  He  was 
followed  by  Isaae  Chalker,  whose  pastorate  closed  in 
1743,  and  subsequently  by  John  Moffat  and  John  Blair, 
the  last  of  whom  left  in  1771.  He  was  followed  by 
Andrew  King,  whose  pastorate  extended  from  1770  to 
1815. 

The  church  at  Bethlehem  had  a  house  of  worship  as 
early  as  1730.  Isaac  Chalker  was  the  first  pastor.  He 
was  succeeded  by  Enos  Ayers,  who  took  charge  of  this 
church  conjointly  with  that  of  Blooming  Grove,  where 
a  church-edifice  was  erected  in  1759.  At  Bethlehem 
he  was  succeeded  by  Francis  Peppard,  who  had  charge 
also  of  the  church  organized  at  New  Windsor  in  1706, 
and  by  Abner  Eeeve  in  the  church  at  Blooming  Grove. 
John  Close,  recently  ordained  by  Dutchess  county  Pres- 
bytery, took  charge  of  the  two  churches  of  Bethlehem 
and  New  Windsor  from  1773  to  1790.  In  both  places 
he  was  succeeded  by  Jonathan  Freeman,  whose  pastor- 
ate continued  until  1*05. 

The  church  at  Blooming  Grove  was  supplied,  after 
Abner  Reeve  left  it.  in  his  zeal  for  Independency  (1764— 
1770),  by  Amaziah  Lewis,  Benoni  Bradner  (1786-1802), 
and  Luther  Ealsey. 

1  Eager' B  Orange  County. 


154  HISTORY    OF    PRESBYTERIANISM. 

Before  the  close  of  the  century  the  Scotchtown  church 
was  organized  (1798),  and  Methuselah  Baldwin  became 
its  pastor.  Here  he  remained  for  nearly  forty  years. 
The  church  at  Crawford  was  of  still  older  date,  and 
Jonathan  Freeman  Avas  pastor  of  it — in  conjunction 
with  New  Windsor — for  several  years.  Meanwhile 
a  congregation  was  gathered  at  Newburgh ;  but  no 
church  seems  to  have  been  organized  till  about  1796-98. 
llelinquishing  his  labors  at  Crawford,  Jonathan  Free- 
man supplied  Newburgh  in  its  stead,  in  conjunction 
with  New  Windsor.  This  was  in  accordance  with  the 
course  of  his  predecessor  at  the  latter  place,  John  Close, 
who  had  divided  his  time  between  the  church  at  New 
Windsor  and  the  congregation  at  Newburgh  for  several 
years  (1785-1796).  Freeman  was  succeeded  at  New- 
burgh by  Eleazer  Burnet  and  John  Johnston, — the  pas- 
torate of  the  latter  extending  from  1807  to  1857.  The 
church  at  Albany  was  formed  before  1761.  Previous 
to  this,  the  feeble  congregation  had  been  endeavoring 
to  secure  the  means  of  erecting  a  house  of  worship, 
and  application  was  afterward  repeatedly  made  to 
Synod  to  secure  aid.  Their  case  was  recommended  to 
the  attention  and  charity  of  friends  of  the  cause,  and, 
through  great  embarrassments,  the  house  of  worship 
was  at  length  erected  and  a  pastor  secured.  The  church 
of  Schenectady  was  organized  a  few  years  later,  and 
for  some  years  formed  a  joint  charge  with  Currie's 
Bush,  now  Princetown.1 

In  1770,  a  letter  was  received  from  the  Presbytery 
of  South  Carolina,  requesting  to  know  the  terms  on 
which  a  union  with  the  Synod  might  be  obtained. 
This  was  a  bod}r,  composed  in  part  of  New  England 
and  in  part  of  Scotch  elements,  which  had  existed  in 
the  low  country  of  the  Carolinas  as  far  back  probably 

1  For  fuller  accounts  of  congregations,  see  chap,  xviii. 


SYNOD    OF    NEW    YORK    AND    PHILADELPHIA.         155 

as  1729,  and  it  may  have  been  in  existence  even  some 
years  earlier.  It  continued  '  under  the  saint-  name  down 
to  the  period  of  the  Revolutionary  War,  when  its  meet- 
ings were  interrupted  and  its  members  scattered.    The 

Presbytery  of  Charleston,  formed  after  the  close  of  the 
conflict,  claimed  to  occupy  the  same  ground  and  to  be 
substantially  the  same  body.  The  Synod  answered 
their  letter,  but  no  reply  was  received. 

The  Presbytery  of  Hanover  had  already  increased 
so  that,  in  the  view  of  a  number  of  its  members,  a 
division  was  desirable.  In  1770,  a  petition  to  this  effect 
was  laid  before  Synod,  and  the  ministers  south  of 
Virginia  and  within  the  bounds  of  North  Carolina 
were  formed  into  the  Presbytery  of  Orange.  Upon 
its  erection  it  consisted  of  six  members,  Hugh  McAden, 
Henry  Patillo,  James  Cresswell,  Joseph  Alexander, 
Hezekiah  James  Balch,  and  Hezekiah  Balch.  Thus 
at  the  close  of  the  period  under  review,  the  Synod 
was  composed  of  ten  Presbyteries, — Dutchess,  Suffolk, 
New  York,  New  Brunswick,  Donegal,  Lewistown,  New 
Castle,  the  First  and  Second  of  Philadelphia,  Hanover, 
and  Orange.  Nearly  as  many  ministers  had  been 
received  or  ordained  as  were  in   connection  with  the 

1  In  1695,  a  church  was  formed  in  Dorchester,  Mass.,  "with  a 
design  to  remove  to  Carolina  to  encourage  the  settlement  of  churches 
and  the  promotion  of  religion  in  the  southern  plantations."  The 
church  embarked,  with  its  pastor,  Rev.  Joseph  Lord,  in  December. 
44  On  February  2,  1096,  the  Lord's  Supper  was  administered  for 
the  first  time  in  that  colony."  This  colony  settled  at  Dorchester, 
eighteen  miles  from  Charleston.  In  1098,  Rev.  John  Cotton,  son 
of  the  Boston  minister,  was  dismissed  from  Plymouth,  and  gathered 
a  church  in  Charleston.  He  died  in  1699.  In  1705,  the  "Dissen- 
ters" had  three  churches  in  Charleston  and  one  in  the  country 
(Dorchester).  In  1754,  Mr.  Osgood,  pastor  of  Dorchester,  with  a 
colony  from  that  church,  organized  the  church  in  Midway,  Ga. 
(Holmes's  Annals,  i.  401,  469,  492.)  A  colony  from  Midway  formed 
the  Presbyterian  church  in  Burke  county,  Cia.  F. 


156  HISTORY    OF    PRESBYTERIANISM. 

Synod  at  the  time  of  its  erection  in  1758.  Most  of 
these  had  been  trained  within  the  bounds  of  the  Pres- 
byteries, and  by  these  more  than  seventy  had  been 
ordained.  Among  the  accessions  from  abroad  were  the 
celebrated  Dr.  Witherspoon,  from  the  Presbytery  of 
Paisley  in  Scotland,  Alexander  McLean,  James  Gourly, 
and  perhaps  one  or  two  others  from  North  Britain. 
McGill,  Ehea,  Huey,  and  two  or  three  others  were  all 
that  came  from  Ireland.  James  Sproat,  Jonathan  Mur- 
dock,  and  A.  Lewis,  were  from  the  Congregational 
Association  of  New  Haven;  and  Dutchess  county  Pres- 
bytery received  Benjamin  Strong  from  Fairfield  West. 
Several  others  were  from  New  England,  but  they  were 
for  the  most  part  educated  or  ordained  within  the 
bounds  of  the  Presbyterian  Church.1 

1  The  members  received  and  for  the  most  part  ordained  by  the 
Presbyteries  during  this  period  were  as  follows.  New  Brunswick 
Presbytery  ordained  Alexander  McWhorter,  William  Kirkpatrick 
(1760),  James  Hunt,  James  Caldwell,  John  Hanna,  John  Clark 
(1761),  Samuel  Parkhurst,  Joseph  Treat,  William  Mills  (1762), 
William  Tennent,  Jr.,  Enoch  Green  (1763),  Amos  Thompson,  Thomas 
Smith,  Jacob  Ker,  Nathan  Ker  (1764),  James  Lyon,  John  Rox- 
borough  (1765),  David  Caldwell  (1766),  Jeremiah  Halsey  (1768), 
William  Schenk,  Jacob  Vanarsdalen  (1772).  New  York  ordained 
Azel  Roe  (1762),  Francis  Peppard  (1765),  Jedediah  Chapman  (1767), 
James  Tuttle  (1769),  William  Woodhull  (1770),  Alexander  Miller, 
Jonathan  Murdoch,  Oliver  Deming  (1771),  Amzi  Lewis  (1772), 
Matthias  Burnet,  Joseph  Grover  (1775).  New  Castle  ordained 
John  Strain,  John  Carmichael  (1761),  Samuel  Blair  (1766),  John 
McCreary,  William  Foster,  Joseph  Smith  (1769),  John  Woodhull, 
Josiah  Lewis  (1771),  Thomas  Read,  James  Wilson,  James  Anderson 
(1772),  Thomas  Smith  (1774).  Lewes  Presbytery  ordained  Joseph 
Montgomery  (1762),  Alexander  Huston  (1765),  Thomas  McCraken 
(1768),  John  Brown  (1769).  Hanover  Presbytery  ordained  Henry 
Patillo  (1758),  James  Waddel  (1763),  David  Rice  (1765),  Thomas 
Jackson,  Samuel  Leak  (1769).  Suffolk  Presbytery  ordained  Samson 
Occum,  Ezra  Reeve  (1759),  Moses  Barrett,  Thomas  Smith  (1760), 
Benj.  Goldsmith  (1764),  David  Rose  (1765),  Elam  Potter,  John 
Close  (1766),  Joshua  Hart  (1772),  John  Davenport  (1775).    The 


SYNOD    OF    NEW    York    AND    PHILADELPHIA.         157 

The  growth  of  the  Church  was  thus  from  its  own 
natural  increase,  and  the  missionary  efforts  thai  were 
pu1  forth.  These  efforts,  though  unequal  to  the  demand, 
were  strenuous  and  unremitted.  The  applications  ad- 
dressed to  the  Synod,  both  from  the  North  and  South, 
were  urgent  and  repeated.  Virginia  and  the  Carolinas 
presented  inviting  fields  for  missionary  effort;  but  the 
laborers  were  few.  From  the  Great  Valley  west  of  the 
mountains,  from  the  region  in  and  around  Prince  Eld- 
ward,  from  the  Presbytery  of  Orange,  embracing  a 
large  part  of  North  Carolina  and  extending  into  South 
Carolina   and   Georgia,  the   applications  for  aid   were 

First  Presbytery  of  Philadelphia  ordained  John  Murray  (1766), 
Alexander  Mitchel  (1709),  James  Boyd,  James  Watt  (1770),  William 
Hollingshead  (1774),  Nathaniel  Irwin,  Daniel  McCalla  (1775}.  The 
ministers  ordained  by  the  Second  Presbytery  of  Philadelphia  were 
Patrick  Allison  (1703),  Samuel  Eakin  (1770),  Robert  Davidson  (1774). 
Donegal  ordained  John  Craighead  (1708),  Hezekiah  J.  Balch  (1770), 
Hugh  Vance  (1772),  William  Thorn  (1773),  Thomas  McFarren  (1775). 
Dutchess  county  Presbytery  ordained  David  Close  (1773),  Black- 
leach  Burritt  (1774).  The  Presbytery  of  Orange  ordained  Thomas 
Reese,  John  Simpson  (1774);  and  the  Presbytery  of  Lancaster, 
during  its  brief  existence,  ordained  Samuel  Blair  (1706). 

The  members  received  from  other  bodies  by  the  Presbyteries 
during  this  period  were  few  in  number.  Suffolk  received  Thomas 
Payne  in  1704;  New  Brunswick,  Jonathan  Leavitt,  from  New  Eng- 
land, in  1705,  John  Witherspoon,  from  Scotland,  in  1709,  and  James 
Gourly,  from  Scotland,  in  1775.  The  First  Presbytery  of  Philadel- 
phia received  James  Sproat,  successor  of  Tennent  in  Philadelphia, 
in  1769.  Dr.  Sproat  had  been  converted  under  Tennent's  preach- 
ing, and  had  been  settled  at  Guilford,  Conn.,  for  nearly  twenty-five 
years.  (Sprague's  Annals,  iii.  125.)  New  Castle  received  Daniel 
McClealand,  in  1709.  Donegal,  Joseph  Rhea,  from  Ireland,  in  1771, 
Robert  Hughes,  also  from  Ireland,  in  1773,  and  Daniel  McClure 
and  Levi  Frisbie,  missionaries  from  New  England,  in  the  same  year. 
The  last  two,  however,  were  not  received  by  the  Synod.  In  1775, 
Colin  ISfcFarquhar  was  also  received  from  Scotland.  Orange  Pres- 
bytery received  James  Campbell  and  James  Edmonds,  from  South 
Carolina,  in  1774;  and  Dutchess  county,  Benjamin  Strong,  in  1772. 

Vol.  I.— 14 


158  HISTORY    OF    PRESBYTERIANISM. 

renewed,  sometimes  with  each  successive  year.  The 
Synod  sent  among  them  all  whom  it  could  spare. 
Licentiates,  and  ministers  recently  ordained,  were 
directed  to  labor  in  these  destitute  regions  from  a  few 
weeks  to  several  months.  Some  of  the  ablest  members 
of  the  Synod,  as  Duffield,  ^McWhorter,  Spencer,  and 
Treat,  were  employed  from  time  to  time  to  itinerate 
through  the  region  and  organize  churches.1  By  such 
methods  the  Synod  attained  a  large  acquaintance  with 
the  Southern  field,  and  their  interest  and  sympathies 
were  excited  in  its  behalf. 

This  was  also  the  case  with  the  frontier  settlements 
of  Pennsylvania  and  the  northern  settlements  of  New 
York.  Duffield  and  Eodgers  were  active  in  visiting 
them  and  encouraging  the  feeble  churches,  or  organ- 
izing them  where  they  were  not  yet  established. 

The  incessant  demand  for  ministers  led  to  measures 
for  securing  a  larger  number  of  candidates  and  making 
provision  for  their  education.  The  project  of  appoint- 
ing a  Professor  of  Divinity  at  Princeton  College  was 
agitated  as  early  as  1760,  only  two  years  after  the 
union  of  the  two  Synods.  No  adequate  provision, 
however,  could  be  made  at  the  time  for  his  support, 
and  the  matter  was  for  the  time  deferred.  Yet  the 
Synod  (1761)  declared  that  "the  Church  suffers  greatly 
for  want  of  an  opportunity  to  instruct  students  in  the 
knowledge  of  divinity;"  and  it  was  therefore  agreed 
that  every  student,  after  taking  his  first  degree  in  col- 
lege, should  "  read  carefully  and  closely  on  this  subject 
at  least  one  year,  under  the  care  of  some  minister 
of  an  approved  character  for  his  skill  in  theology," 
under  his  direction  discussing  "difficult  points  in  di- 
vinity, forming  sermons,  lectures,  and  such  other  use- 
ful exercises  as  he  may  be  directed  to,  in  the  course  ot 

1  Sec  Minutes  for  successive  years  of  this  period. 


SYNOD  OF  NEW  FORK  AM)  PHILADELPHIA.    159 

liis  studies."  Practice  in  public  speaking  was  recom- 
mended, and   probationers   were  "to   forbear  reading 

their  sermons  from  the  pulpit,  if  they  could  conve- 
niently."1 

But  these  provisions  came  far  short  of  meeting  the 
emergency.  The  college  at  Princeton,  a  few  years  later 
(1768),  secured  the  services  of  the  celebrated  Dr.  With- 
erspoon,  of  Scotland,  who  was  invited  to  the  presidency 
of  the  college  on  the  death  of  Dr.  Finlcy.  A  new  and 
energetic  effort  was  now  made  throughout  the  hounds 
of  the  Church  to  secure  a  larger  endowment  for  the 
institution.  It  was  prosecuted  with  much  vigor  and  a 
good  degree  of  success.  Dr.  Witherspoon,  in  addition 
to  his  other  duties,  gave  lectures  on  divinity,  and 
instructed  the  students  who  desired  it,  in  the  Hebrew 
language.  This,  in  the  circumstances,  was  the  best 
provision  that  could  be  made.  The  Synod,  encouraged 
by  the  prospect,  engaged  to  add  fifty  pounds  a  year  to 
his  salary. 

The  first  difficulty,  the  securing  of  a  Divinity  Pro- 
fessor, wras  thus  met.  Another  remained.  The  neces- 
sities  of  those  engaged  in  a  course  of  preparation  for 
the  ministry  were  often  urgent,  and  for  lack  of  means 
they  were  sometimes  compelled  to  abandon  their  pur- 
pose. The  Synod  endeavored  (1771)  to  meet  this  diffi- 
culty by  "a  scheme  for  supporting  young  men  of  piety 
and  parts  at  learning  for  the  work  of  the  ministry,  so 
that  our  numerous  vacancies  may  be  supplied  with 
preachers  of  the  gospel."  By  this  scheme,  it  was  the 
aim  of  the  Synod  to  throw  the  burden  upon  those  who 
were  most  interested  in  the  success  of  the  project. 
Each  vacant  congregation  asking  Presbytery  for  sup- 
plies was  to  pay  annually  two  pounds  into  a  common 
fund.      Every  minister  a  member  of  the  Presbytery 

1  Minutes,  309,  310. 


160  HISTORY    OF    PRESBYTERIANISM. 

was  to  pay  one  pound,  and  any  who  were  willing  to 
contribute  were  to  have  the  opportunity  of  annual  sub- 
scription. Individuals  who  applied  for  aid  were  to  be 
examined  and  approved  by  the  Presbytery,  and  were 
to  preach  one  year  after  licensure  in  the  vacancies 
within  its  bounds.  In  case  any  persons  thus  educated 
should  withdraw  from  their  purpose  of  laboring  in  the 
ministry,  they  were  to  give  bonds  for  the  repayment 
of  what  they  had  thus  received.1 

Here,  then,  was  the  model  of  a  Presbyterian  Educa- 
tion society.  It  was  probably  the  first  of  any  kind 
that  had  yet  been  devised  in  this  country.  The  plan 
had  originated  with  the  Presbytery  of  New  Castle, 
and  was  overtured  to  the  Synod,  who  approved  it  and 
earnestly  recommended  it,  or  a  like  scheme,  to  the 
several  Presbyteries. 

In  1773,  the  subject  was  again  brought  to  the  notice 
of  Synod.2  It  was  found  that  the  Presbyteries  of  New 
York  and  New  Brunswick,  and  the  Second  Presbytery 
of  Philadelphia,  had  "  complied  fully"  with  the  recom- 
mendations of  the  Synod,  and  had  succeeded  so  far  in 
"  raising  money  for  poor  pious  youths"  as  to  have 
"  several  young  men  at  education."  Some  of  the  other 
Presbyteries  had  done  something,  but  had  not  answered 
the  design  of  the  Synod.  They  were  now  ordered  "  to 
prosecute  this  important  plan  as  speedily  as  possible." 
But  the  approaching  scenes  and  troubles  of  the  Eevolu- 
tionary  conflict  defeated  any  successful  or  general  prose- 
cution of  the  project. 

The  subject  of  missionary  labors  among  the  Indians 
was  not  overlooked.  David  Brainerd  had  labored  with 
devoted  zeal  among  the  tribes  along  the  Delaware,  and 
had  made  Crossweeksung,  Kaunaumeek,  and  the  Porks 
of  the  Delaware,  classic  in  the  literature  of  Christian 

i  Minutes,  419,  420.  2  u^d.  433. 


SYNOD    OF    NEW    YORK    AND    PHILADELPHIA.         101 

missions.  His  brother  John,  not  unworthy  of  such  a  kin- 
dred, had  Longed  to  tread  in  his  steps;  but  tjie  French 
War,  and  trouble  among  the  tribes,  bad  deranged  his 
plans.  He  settled,  therefore,  as  pastor  of  the  congre- 
gation at  Newark,  waiting  for  a  more  favorable  oppor- 
tunity. In  1700,  be  laid  bis  ease  before  Synod,  then  in 
session  at  Philadelphia.  He  asked  advice,  whether  he 
should  leave  his  present  comfortable  position  at  Newark 
and  resume  his  mission  to  the  Indians.  The  Synod 
dared  not  repress  bis  zeal.  Though  "tenderly  affected 
with  the  case  of  Newark  congregation,  yet,  in  consider- 
ation of  the  great  importance  of  the  Indian  mission, 
they  unanimously  advise  Mr.  Brainerd  to  resume  it." 
The  interest  of  the  Indian  fund  was  given  him  for  the 
year,  in  order  to  "  his  more  comfortable  subsistence. " 
It  was  subsequently  renewed,  and  the  congregations 
throughout  the  Church  were  urged  to  take  up  collec- 
tions for  his  support  and  in  order  to  sustain  an  Indian 
school.1 

But  the  attention  of  the  Synod  had  already  been 
called  to  the  Oneida  tribe.2  At  first  they  could  not  see 
their  way  clear  to  make  any  eifort  to  sustain  a  mission 
among  them;  but  when,  in  1763,  the  faithful  Occam 
bad  already  entered  the  field,  and  derived  but  a  scanty 
support  from  "the  Society  in  Britain,"  the  Synod  gene- 
rously resolved  to  place  at  his  disposal  for  the  year 
the  sum  of  sixty-five  pounds;  and,  in  order  to  secure 
it,  collections  were  ordered  in  the  several  congrega- 
tions. At  this  time  Sergeant  had  joined  the  Indian 
mission  under  the  care  of  Brainerd. 

In  1708,  "  the  Synod,  taking  under  consideration  the 
deplorable  condition  of  the  Indian  tribes,  the  natives 
of  this  land,  who  sit  in  heathenish  darkness  and  are 
perishing  for  lack   of  knowledge,"  appointed  a  com- 


i  Minutes,  211,  31G,  324.  2  Ibid.  321. 


1G2  HISTORY    OF    PRESBYTERIANISM. 

mittee  "  to  draw  up  and  concert  a  general  plan  to  be 
la\d  before  the  next  Synod,  to  be  by  them  approved 
in  order  to  prepare  the  way  to  propagate  the  gospel 
among  those  benighted  people."  The  committee  con- 
sisted of  some  of  the  ablest  members  of  the  body. 
Allison, Read, Treat, E wing,  William  Tennent,  McWhor- 
ter,  Caldwell,  Williamson,  Thomson,  and  Blair,  com- 
posed it,  and  were  to  meet  in  October,  at  Elizabeth- 
town,  to  devise  the  plan. 

But  the  troubled  state  of  the  frontier, — such  that 
Cooper  and  Brainerd,  who  had  intended  to  visit  the 
Indians  on  the  Muskingum,  were  forced  to  abandon 
their  project, — the  intrigues  of  the  French,  and  the 
near  approach  of  the  war,  effectually  prevented  the 
success  of  any  enterprise  which  the  Synod  might  have 
chosen  to  prosecute.  It  was  thirty  years  before  the 
ground  which  was  thus  lost  could  be  regained,  or 
the  attention  and  sympathies  of  the  Presbyterian 
churches  be  effectually  drawn  to  the  religious  claims 
of  the  aboriginal  tribes.  Yet  it  was  the  full  intention 
of  the  Synod  to  prosecute  the  matter  on  a  well-devised 
system.  A  part  of  this  was  developed  in  the  overture 
from  the  New  York  Presbytery,  on  the  subject  of  a 
missionary  collection  in  all  the  churches  of  each  Pres- 
bytery,— a  plan  which  was  adopted  by  the  Synod  in 
1767.  This  was  with  a  view  not  only  to  secure  mis- 
sionary labor  for  the  Indians,  but  to  relieve  "  the  un- 
happy lot  of  many  in  various  parts  of  our  land  who 
are  brought  up  in  ignorance,"  whose  "families  were 
perishing  for  lack  of  knowledge,"  and  "  who,  on  account 
of  their  poverty  and  scattered  habitations,  are  unable, 
without  some  assistance,  to  support  the  gospel  minis- 
try among  them."  It  was  publicly  acknowledged  and 
declared  to  be  the  "  duty"  of  the  churches  "to  send 
missionaries    to    the    frontier    settlements,   who    may 


SYNOD    <)F    NEW    YOEK    AND    PHILADELPHIA.  1G3 

preach  to  the  dispersed   families  there,  and  form  ihem 
into  societies  for  the  public  worship  of  God." 

Here  wen-  the  germs  both  of  Some  and  Foreign 
Missions,  thirty  years  before  the  great  missionary 
movement  at  the  beginning  of  the  present  century 
commenced.  But  for  the  war,  it  is  possible  that  Brain- 
erd  might  have  had  the  honor  reserved  for  I'mry.  and 
the  American  Church — like  the  child  teaching  the 
parent  to  read — have  se1  England  the  lesson  that  by 
many  years  should  have  antedated  the  formation  of 
her  missionary  societies. 

The  correspondence  of  the  Synod  with  other  churches 
was  not  overlooked.  In  1759,  Davies,  Cross,  and  Ten- 
nent  were  on  a  large  committee  to  propose  to  the  Pres- 
byterian churches  abroad  to  settle  some  plan  byT  which 
this  object  could  be  secured.  In  successive  yrears, 
committees  of  correspondence  wTere  appointed  or  con- 
tinued; but  they  had  been  unable  to  meet,  and  for  seven 
years  no  digested  plan  was  laid  before  Synod.  In 
1766,  Alison,  Blair,  Beattv,  and  P.  Y.  Livingston  were 
appointed  a  committee  to  prepare  and  bring  in  a  plan 
"as  soon  as  possible."  They  reported  in  favor  of  a 
correspondence  with  the  churches  of  Holland,  Geneva, 
Switzerland,  the  General  Assembly  of  Scotland,  the 
seceding  Synods,  the  ministers  in  and  about  London, 
the  Irish  Synod,  the  ministers  of  Dublin  and  of  New 
England,  and  the  churches  in  South  Carolina.  For 
four  or  five  years,  the  correspondence  which  was  thus 
recommended  was  more  or  less  maintained;  but  the 
last  notice  of  it  appears  in  1771. 

The  regular  correspondence  with  the  consociated 
eli arches  of  Connecticut  hears  date  also  from  1766 
Already  the  -Synod  had  given  evidence  of  regarding 
them  in  a  different  light  from  that  of  "individual  minis 
tcrs,  convened  as  a  temporary  judicatory  for  the  single 
purpose  of  licensing  or  ordaining  a  candidate."     While 


164  HISTORY   OF   PRESBYTERIANISM. 

declaring  (1764)  that  "  every  Christian  society  should 
maintain  communion  with  others  as  far  as  they  can 
with  a  good  conscience/'  yet  "no  society  was  bound  to 
adopt  or  imitate  the  irregularities  of  another/'  in  order 
thereto, "  contrary  to  its  own  established  and  approved 
rules  of  procedure."  Hence  the  candidates  of  the  New- 
Light  party  in  Ireland,  of  Congregational  Councils  in 
New  England,  and  others,  were  not  to  be  received  by 
the  Presbyteries  without  examination. 

But  in  regard  to  the  associated  churches  of  Connec- 
ticut a  different  feeling  prevailed,  and,  at  the  same  time 
that  the  correspondence  with  foreign  churches  was 
reduced  to  system,  a  plan  for  closer  intimacy  with 
those  of  Connecticut  was  devised.  Arrangements  were 
made,  in  concert  with  the  General  Association  of  Con- 
necticut, for  a  convention  of  Congregational  and  Pres- 
byterian ministers,  to  be  held  annually,  in  order  to  pro- 
mote objects  of  common  interest  to  both  denominations. 
The  convention  was  to  meet  alternately  in  Connecticut 
and  within  the  bounds  of  the  Presbyterian  Church,  but 
was  to  exercise  no  authority  over  the  ministers  or 
churches.  Its  general  design  was  "to  gain  informa- 
tion of"  their  "united  cause  and  interest;  to  collect 
accounts  relating  thereto ;  to  unite  their  endeavors 
and  counsels  for  spreading  the  gospel  and  preserving 
the  religious  liberties  of  the  churches ;  to  diffuse  har- 
mony and  to  keep  up  a  correspondence  throughout  this 
united  body,  and  with  friends  abroad,"  and  to  vindi- 
cate the  loyalty  and  reputation  of  the  churches  thus 
represented.1 

1  This  is  a  very  covert  and  delicate  statement,  concealing  the  real 
object.  The  phrase  "preserving  religious  liberty'''  is  very  significant. 
"To  vindicate  the  loyalty  and  reputation  of  the  churches'''  reveals  the 
design.  Episcopacy,  combined  with  hyper-Presbyterianism  (Scotch) 
in  New  England,  which  desired  a  Presbyterian  Establishment  on  the 
basis  of   the  Solemn  League  and   Covenant,  remonstrated  with   the 


SYNOD    OF    NEW    YORK    AND    PHILADELPHIA.         IG5 

The  convention  mel  al  Elizabeth  town,  in  L766.  It 
drew  i!])  a  plan  of  union  between  the  Congregational, 
Consociated,  and  Presbyterian  Churches,  which  was 
reported  to  the  Synod  the  following  year.  Jt  was 
amended  by  them,  and  finally  adopted  by  both  parties. 
From  this  period  the  convent  ions  were  held  annually 
until  1776.  The  disturbance  occasioned  by  the  wai- 
led to  its  neglect,  and  no  effort  was  made  to  revive  it 
till  1792. 

The  object  of  this  convention  was  simply  Christian 
and  patriotic.  There  were  common  dangers  which 
threatened  alike  the  Presbyterian  churches  of  the  Mid- 
dle States,  and  the  Congregational  churches  oi*  New 
England.  It  was  well  known  that,  while  civil  liberty 
was  threatened  by  stamp  acts,  a  project  for  the  sacri- 
fice of  religious  freedom  to  Episcopal  ascendency  in 
the  colonies  was  cautiously  but  resolutely  cherished  in 
England.  It  was  believed,  on  what  was  regarded  as 
good  authority,  that  nothing  less  wTas  contemplated 
than  the  extension  to  these  shores  of  the  English 
Establishment,  for  which  Dissenters  here  would  be 
taxed  as  they  were  in  England. 

To  present  a  united  front  of  resistance  to  such  a  pro- 
English  Parliament  against  the  holding  of  Synods  in  New  England. 
Under  the  lGth  of  Richard  II.,  the  power  to  convoke  conventions 
was  vested  in  the  Crown,  and  continued  to  be  exercised  even  by 
Cromwell.  New  York  and  Virginia  had  already  Episcopal  Estab- 
lishments, and  the  effort  was  made  to  put  the  entire  country  under 
diocesan  bishops,  as  in  England.  The  object  of  the  convention  of 
Presbyterians  and  Congregationalists  was  to  prevent  this;  and  by 
their  extensive  correspondence  they  aimed  to  prevent  such  a  result 
The  opponents  of  the  Dissenters  were  also  enemies  of  the  existing 
colonial  governments.  Through  influence  from  this  source,  the  Con- 
gregationalists lost  their  Synods,  and  the  convention  was  formed  to 
ilently  the  attempt  to  Bubjecl  them  to  Royalty  and  Episco- 
pacy. (Holmes's Annals, i. 586.  Printed  .Minutes  of  the  convention. 
These  last  were  printed  in  pamphlet  form  a  few  years  since.)    F. 


166  HISTORY    OF    PRESBYTERIANISM. 

ject;  to  make  common  cause  with  all  Dissenters  sub 
ject  to  disabilities  in  any  of  the  colonies, — as  in  Mary- 
land and  Carolina ;  to  diffuse  among  the  people  facts 
and  information  which  should  enable  them  to  deter- 
mine intelligently  in  regard  to  the  great  questions 
looming  up  in  the  distance;  to  secure  careful  estimates 
of  the  number  of  Episcopalians  and  non-Episcopalians 
in  the  different  colonies, — these  were  the  objects  which 
the  convention  kept  ever  in  view.  It  is.  evident,  from 
a  perusal  of  its  minutes,  that  the  men  who  composed 
it  were  not  disturbed  by  the  apprehension  of  merely 
imaginary  dangers.  They  perceived  the  identity  of 
interest  between  the  cause  of  civil  and  that  of  religious 
liberty;  and  we  cannot  doubt  that  the  influence  of  their 
deliberations  powerfully  contributed  to  the  successful 
issue  of  the  great  conflict  which  some  already  felt  was 
near  at  hand. 

Soon  after  the  arrival  of  Dr.  Witherspoon  in  this 
country,  an  effort  was  made  to  secure  a  union  of  the 
"seceding"  ministers  with  the  Synod.  At  the  request  of 
the  ministers  themselves,  a  committee  was  appointed 
to  converse  with  them  (1769).  That  committee  failed 
to  meet,  and  another  was  appointed  in  the  following 
year.  Their  conference  proved  barren  of  results;  and 
in  1774  the  Associate  Presbytery  in  Pennsylvania, 
"  for  reasons  which  appeared  to  them  valid/'  declined 
any  further  measures  with  a  view  to  union. 

The  necessities  of  missionary  labor  had  called  the 
attention  of  members  of  the  Synod  to  the  wisdom  of 
making  provision  for  the  circulation,  especially  in 
frontier  settlements,  of  religious  books.  In  1772,  the 
charity  of  the  public  was  asked  for  the  promotion  of 
this  object.  The  books  which  were  specified  as  those 
most  desirable  for  circulation  were  Bibles,  the  West- 
minster Confession,  Assembly's  and  Vincent's  Cate* 
chisms,   Doddridge's   "  Eise    and   Progress,"   Alleine's 


SYNOD  OF  NEW  YORK  AND  PHILADELPHIA.    107 

"Alarm,"  Watts's  Songs  f<  r  Children,  and  "A  Compas- 
Bionate  Address  to  the  Christian  World."  These  books 
were  designed  to  be  given  to  the  poor;  and,  in  177;), 
committees  were  appointed  in   Philadelphia  and  New 

York  to  see  to  their  procurement,  and  each  was 
authorized  to  draw  upon  the  treasurer  of  Synod  for  an 
amount  not  exceeding  twenty  pounds.  The  germ  of 
the  Publication  cause,  as  well  as  those  of  Home  and 
Foreign  Missions,  was  thus  manifest  at  a  period  ante- 
rior to  the  Revolutionary  conflict. 

The  subject  of  Psalmody  was  one  which  occasioned 
in  some  quarters  no  little  disquiet.  Many  were  indis- 
posed to  give  up  the  old  version  of  the  Psalms,  and 
some  of  the  Scotch  wrere  especially  tenacious  of  it.  The 
church  at  New  York  had  been  sorely  rent  by  troubles 
which  had  originated  from  this  source.  In  1763,  the 
question  was  introduced  into  Synod,  "As  sundry  mem- 
bers and  congregations  within  the  bounds  of  our 
Synod  judge  it  most  for  edification  to  sing  Dr.  Watts's 
Imitation  of  David's  Psalms,  do  the  Synod  so  far  approve 
6aid  imitation  as  to  allow  such  ministers  and  congrega- 
tions the  liberty  of  using  it  ?"  The  reply  was,  that,  as 
many  of  the  Synod  had  not  examined  the  book,  they 
were  not  prepared  to  answer,  but,  inasmuch  as  it  was 
approved  by  many  members  of  the  bod}7-,  no  objection 
would  be  made  to  its  use  till  the  subject  of  Psalmody 
was  further  considered.  Members  were  recommended 
to  examine  the  matter  and  be  prepared  to  present 
their  views  the  next  year.  But  in  1764  the  matter 
was  postponed,  and  in  1765  it  was  referred  to  Dr  Fin- 
ley  and  Mr.  .McDowell.  Upon  their  report  it  was 
decided  that  the  Synod  "  look  upon  the  inspired  Psalms 
in  Scripture  to  be  proper  matter  to  be  sung  in  Divine 
worship,  according  to  their  original  design  and  the 
practice  of  the  Christian  churches,  yet  will  not  forhid 
those  to  use  the   Imitation  of  them  whose  judgment 


168  HISTORY    OF    PRESBYTERIANISM 

and  inclination  lead  them  to  do  so."  For  a  time  this 
decision  seems  to  have  been  acquiesced  in;  but  in  1773 
trouble  arose  in  the  Second  Presbyterian  Church  of 
Philadelphia.  Of  this  church,  James  Sproat — converted 
while  in  Yale  College  under  the  preaching  of  his  prede- 
cessor, on  his  tour  through  New  England — was  pastor. 
\Yatts's  version  had  been  introduced  among  the  congre- 
gation, to  the  great  annoyance  of  certain  members. 
The  Session  favored  the  measure,  and  the  Presbytery 
confirmed  the  judgment  of  the  Session.  An  appeal  was 
had  to  Synod,  and,  after  discussion,  a  committee  was 
appointed  to  confer  with  the  original  parties.  Upon 
their  report,  it  was  decided  to  be  unwise  to  affirm  or 
disapprove  the  several  distinct  propositions  laid  down 
by  the  Presbytery  in  their  judgment,  and,  as  the  Synod 
had  not  then  time  to  "  consider  fully  the  different  ver- 
sions of  the  Psalms  in  question,"  and  it  had  already 
been  declared  that  each  congregation  might  determine 
the  matter  for  themselves,  the  Synod  contented  itself 
with  recommending  to  both  parties  peace  and  harmony, 
forbearing  all  harsh  sentiments  and  expressions,  and 
especially  all  intimation  that  either  version  was  "  unfit 
to  be  sung  in  Christian  worship."  It  was  more  than 
fifteen  years  later  that  Dr.  Latta,  of  the  Second  Pres- 
bytery of  Philadelphia,  issued  his  pamphlet  against 
Anderson,  of  the  Associate  Church,  contending  that  the 
principal  subjects  of  Psalmody  should  be  taken  from 
the  gospel.  The  pamphlet  was  widely  scattered,  and, 
although  great  agitation  had  been  produced  on  the  sub- 
ject, even  beyond  the  mountains  in  the  feeble  churches 
of  Kentucky,  it  went  through  four  editions,  and  was 
never  answered.  Thus  a  leading  member  of  the  Old- 
side  Second  Presbytery  of  Philadelphia  became  the 
champion  of  the  dreaded  innovation. 

For  some  time  the  authority  of  the  Synod's  Corn-mis- 
sion had  been  called  in  question.     It  was  argued  that 


SYNOD    OF    NEW    FORE    AND    PHILADELPHIA.         1G9 

the  Synod  had  no  righl  to  delegate  its  full  authority  to 
a  portion  of  its  members.  There  were  serious  doubts, 
moreover,  as  to  the  utility  as  well  as  powers  of  Com- 
mission, and  in  1774  the  Synod  found  it  necessary  to 
vindicate  its  course  in  the  annual  appointment  which 
had  been  made  with  ondeviating  uniformity  from  the 
date  of  its  erection.  Provision,  however,  was  made  to 
guard  against  any  abuse  of  its  powers  from  deficient 
attendance,  and  its  decisions.  Like  those  of  the  Synod 
itself,  were  declared  to  be  without  appeal.  Its  pro- 
ceedings and  judgments,  however,  might  be  reviewed, 
and  in  this  review  the  Commission  might  be  present 
and  assist. 

It  was  at  this  period  (1774)  that  Eev.  Dr.  Ezra  Stiles 
and  Eev.  Samuel  Hopkins  called  the  attention  of  the 
Synod  to  the  claims  of  the  African  race.  They  were 
agitating  the  plan  of  sending  two  natives  of  Africa  on 
a  mission  to  propagate  Christianity  in  their  native 
country,  and  they  asked  the  Synod  to  approve  and 
countenance  the  undertaking.  The  request  was  favor- 
ably received.  The  Synod  declared  itself  "very  happy 
to  have  an  opportunity  to  express  their  readiness  to 
concur  with  and  assist  in  a  mission  to  the  African 
tribes,  especially  where  so  many  circumstances  concur, 
as  in  the  present  case,  to  intimate  that  it  is  the  will  of 
God,  and  to  encourage  us  to  hope  for  success."  They 
gave  assurance  that  they  were  ready  to  do  all  that  was 
proper  for  them  in  their  station,  for  the  encouragement 
and  assistance  of  those  who  had  originated  the  move- 
ment. _ 

With  the  cause  of  civil  and  religious  liberty  the 
American  Presbyterian  Church  has  been  identified 
from  its  earliest  period.  From  the  time  when  Lord 
Cornbury  imprisoned  Francis  Makemie  lor  preaching 
in  New  York,  the  voice  of  the  Church  which  boasts 
him  as  its  founder  has  ever  been  0:1  the  side  of  free- 
Vol.  I.— 15 


170  HISTORY    OF    PRESBYTERIANISM. 

dom  and  against  all  intolerance.  Throughout  her 
entire  history,  and  in  all  her  records,  there  is  not  an 
act  on  this  great  subject  which  has  received  her  sanc- 
tion, for  which  she  needs  to  offer  an  apology.  On  the 
other  hand,  the  cause  of  civil  and  religious  freedom  has 
never  found  a  more  earnest  and  steadfast  champion. 
This  is  abundantly  illustrated  in  the  history  of  our 
Eevolutionary  conflict. 

The  Synod  of  1775  met  at  Philadelphia,  May  17, 
1775.  It  was  a  time  of  great  popular  excitement. 
Just  four  weeks  to  a  day  before  they  assembled,  the 
first  blood  shed  in  the  Eevolutionary  conflict  flowed  at 
Lexington.  Just  one  week  before,  the  General  Con- 
gress had  assembled,  and  was  now  sitting  but  a  short 
distance  off  in  the  same  city.  Outside  the  place  where 
the  Synod  was  convened,  in  the  streets  of  Philadelphia, 
and  indeed  throughout  the  land,  nothing  but  the  scenes 
and  interests  of  the  opening  conflict  was  talked  of. 
Yet  this  body  calmly  attended  to  its  own  proper  busi- 
ness, and,  when  the  fitting  time  had  arrived,  gave 
appropriate  expression  to  its  patriotic  sympathies  and 
its  religious  convictions  on  the  subject  of  colonial 
rights.  Barely,  on  any  occasion,  has  there  been  a  par- 
allel utterance  more  significant  or  effective;  and  it  came 
at  the  opportune  moment,  when  political  zeal  needed 
to  be  tempered  and  sustained  by  religious  sanctions. 

The  members  present  in  the  Synod  were  less  in  num- 
ber than  was  usual  upon  similar  occasions;  but  this 
is  easily  accounted  for.  The  Presbyteries  of  Suffolk, 
Lewes,  Philadelphia  Second,  Hanover,  and  Orange, 
were  without  a  single  representative;  Dutchess  county 
Presbytery  had  but  three, — Wheeler  Case,  Samuel 
Mills,  and  Ichabod  Lewis;  New  Castle  and  Donegal 
had  each  but  one,  and  Philadelphia  First  but  two.  In 
all  there  were  only  twenty- four  ministers  and  five 
elders.    But  their  very  presence  upon  the  occasion  indi- 


BYNOD    01    NEW    YORK    AND    PHILADELPHIA.         171 

cated  their  character,  and  the  smallness  of  their  num- 
bers  was  compensated  by  the  vigor  of  their  spirit. 

Foremost  among  them  was  the  venerable  Dr.  Wither- 
spoon,  Scotch  in  accent  and  in  strength  of  conviction, 
hut  American  in  feeling  to  his  heart's  core,  and  des- 
tined for  six  years  to  represent  his  adopted  State  in 
the  General  Congress,  and  draw  up  many  of  the  most 
important  state  papers  of  the  day.  With  a  clear  intel- 
lect, a  calm  judgment,  indomitable  strength  of  purpose, 
and  a  resolute  and  unflinching  courage,  he  combined 
that  conscientious  integrity  and  religious  feeling  which 
made  him  among  his  associates  in  the  Church  what 
Washington  was  in  the  field,  and  secured  for  him  the 
respect  and  veneration  of  all.  But,  if  a  host  in  him- 
self, there  were  others  present  worthy  to  be  his  allies. 
There  was  Eobert  Cooper,  for  a  time  chaplain  #in  the 
army,  and  who  was  near  being  taken  a  prisoner  at 
Princeton;  Dr.  John  Eodgers,  of  NewT  York,  chaplain 
during  the  war,  first  of  Heath's  brigade,  then  of  the 
Convention  of  the  State  and  of  the  Council  of  Safety; 
McWhortcr,  who  shared  the  councils  of  "Washington  on 
the  memorable  2Gth  of  December,  1776,  when  the  Ameri- 
can troops  crossed  the  Delaware,  and  who  was  afterward 
chaplain  of  Knox's  brigade;  James  Caldwell,  inherit- 
ing with  his  Huguenot  blood  a  feeling  of  opposition  to 
tyranny  and  tyrants,  a  member  of  the  Jersey  regiment 
under  his  parishioner,  Colonel  Dayton,  with  a  price  set 
upon  his  head  by  the  enemy,  his  church  burned,  his 
wife  shot  by  a  refugee,  and  himself  at  length  (1781)  by 
a  drunken  soldier;  Jedediah  Chapman,  the  fearless  mis- 
sionary pioneer,  and  the  father  of  Presbyterianism  in 
Central  New  York. — and  others  beside,  well  worthy  to 
stand  in  the  foremost  rank  of  American  and  Christian 
patriots. 

These  were  the  men  win.  fearlessly  committed  them- 
selves on  the  side  of  freedom.    In  the  alarming  posturo 


172  HISTORY    OF    PRESRYTERIANISM' 

of  public  affairs  they  judged  it  their  duty  to  appoint  a 
day  of  "  solemn  fasting,  humiliation,  and  prayer,"  to  be 
"  carefully  and  religiously  observed"  by  all  the  congre- 
gations under  their  care.  Anticipating  a  similar  appoint- 
ment by  "the  Continental  Congress,  now  sitting,"  they 
directed  that  if  not  more  than  four  weeks  distant  from 
it,  it  should  supersede  their  own. 

The  measure — then  unusual — of  a  pastoral  letter,  was 
adopted.  Witherspoon,  Rodgers,  and  Caldwell  were 
the  leading  members  of  the  committee  appointed  to 
draw  it  up.  It  bore  throughout  the  stamp  of  their 
deep  feeling  and  patriotic  as  well  as  religious  zeal.  It 
noticed  the  threatening  aspect  of  public  affairs  and  the 
apprehended  horrors  of  a  civil  war,  and,  in  view  of 
these  things,  recognized  the  Synod's  duty  of  addressing 
the  numerous  congregations  under  its  care  "  at  this 
important  crisis."  In  a  tone  that  must  have  sounded 
in  strange  contrast  with  the  echoes  of  war,  it  pressed 
home  upon  the  attention  of  all,  the  great  truths  of 
God's  sovereignty  and  providence,  and  personal  duty 
in  relation  to  the  claims  of  gospel  repentance,  faith, 
and  obedience. 

The  letter  then  proceeds  to  express  the  views  of  the 
Synod,  wThich  they  declare  they  "  do  not  wish  to  con- 
ceal, as  men  and  citizens."  It  urges  loj^alty  to  the 
king,  but  union  on  the  part  of  the  colonies :  mutual 
charity  and  esteem  among  members  of  different  reli- 
gious denominations :  vigilance  in  regard  to  social  gov- 
ernment and  morals :  reformation  of  manners :  religious 
discipline :  the  careful  securing  of  the  rights  of  con- 
science by  the  magistrates;  personal  honesty  and  integ- 
rity; humanity  and  mercy,  especially  among  such  as 
should  be  called  to  the  field.  "  That  man  will  fight 
most  bravely,"  they  say,  "who  never  lights  till  it  is 
necessary,  and  who  ceases  to  fight  u&  Boon  as  the  neces- 
sity is  over." 


THE    REVOLUTIONARY    WAR.  173 

Such  was  the  spirit  ol*  this  noble  Idtcr.  Five  hun- 
dred copies  of  it  were  to  l»e  printed  and  circulated  at 
the  Synod's  expense.  Thus  they  were  scattered  abroad 
throughout  all  the  congregations,  contributing  in  no 
small  measure  to  kindle  and  sustain  the  patriotic  zeal 
of  the  country.  The  Presbyterian  Church,  by  the  act 
of  its  highest  judicatory,  thus  took  its  stand  at  Phila- 
delphia by  the  side  of  the  American  Congress  then  in 
session,  and  its  influence  was  felt  in  a  most  decisive 
manner  throughout  the  bounds  of  the  Church. 


CHAPTEB  X. 


THE    REVOLUTIONARY    WAR   AND    THE    REORGANIZATION 
OP    THE    CHURCH.     1775-1788. 

There  were  some  very  obvious  reasons  why  the 
Presbyterian  Church  in  this  country  should  take  the 
noble  stand  it  did,  at  the  critical  moment  when  the 
people  were  called  to  choose  between  resistance  and 
submission  to  arbitrary  power.  The  same  reasons  also 
were  valid  when  the  question  of  national  independence 
was  to  be  met. 

The  history,  traditions,  and  sympathies  of  the  Church, 
— the  principles  upon  which  its  very  existence  wras  based, 
— the  nature  of  its  system,  combining  liberty  with  law, 
— the  aims  which  it  stood  pledged  to  cherish,  as  well  as 
the  dangers  which  it  had  to  fear  in  case  an  arbitrary 
system  was  to  triumph  and  be  established  by  the  power 
of  the  sword, — contributed  to  unite  the  members  and 
friends  of  the  Church,  almost  as  one  man.  in  the  pa- 
triotic cause.  Its  constituent  elements,  it  is  true,  had 
been    drawn   from   sources   widely  diverse ;  yet   each 

la* 


174  HISTORY    OF    PRESBYTEBIANISM. 

brought  with  it  traditionary  memories,  cherished  with 
sacred  fondness,  which  were  singularly  harmonious  it 
their  nature  and  bearing.  Within  its  fold  were  men 
whose  ancestors  had  resisted  the  Spanish  tyrant,  even 
to  the  death,  on  the  dikes  of  Holland, — some  who  had 
listened  in  childhood  to  the  story  of  what  their  ances- 
tors, driven  into  exile  by  the  revocation  of  the  Edict 
of  Nantes,  had  suffered  less  than  a  century  previous. — 
some  whose  parents  had  wandered  houseless  in  Scot- 
tish glens,  or  who  had  indignantly  witnessed  the  des- 
potic attempt  to  impose  Episcopacy  on  Scotland, — not 
a  few  who  must  have  seen  and  heard  the  heroes  of 
Londonderry  or  Enniskillen, — and  hundreds,  if  not 
thousands,  who  might  proudly  boast  that  in  their  veins 
flowed  the  blood  of  the  Pilgrim  Fathers  of  New  Eng- 
land. Each  had  some  treasured  memory  of  the  past, 
some  ancestral  association,  which  he  cherished  as  a 
pledge  of  unswerving  fidelity  to  the  cause  of  civil  and 
religious  freedom. 

The  date  of  the  foundation  of  the  Church  in  this 
country,  moreover,  was  significant.  It  seemed  born 
just  in  time  to  inherit  the  legacy  of  the  noblest  spirits, 
the  persecuted  heroes  of  England,  Scotland,  Ireland, 
and  the  Continent.  When  Makemie  first  landed  on 
these  shores,  a  majority,  possibly,  of  the  two  thousand 
Non-Conformists  of  1662  still  survived.  Baxter  had 
just  been  fined  nearly  two  hundred  pounds  for  preach- 
ing within  five  miles  of  a  corporation,  and  was  now 
writing  his  New  Testament  Paraphrase,  for  which  the 
vengeance  of  Jeffries  was  soon  to  sentence  him  to  a 
two-years  imprisonment.  Owen,  sinking  under  his 
gigantic  labors,  was  feeling  even  yet  the  bitterness  of 
the  intolerance  that  sought  to  identify  him  with  the 
conspirators  of  the  Eye-House  Plot.  Manton,  silenced 
in  the  pulpit,  was  calmly  waiting  the  summons  to  a 
higher  service.     Bates,  who  might  have  had  "any  bish- 


THE   REVOLUTIONARY   WAR.  175 

opric  in  the  kingdom"  if  he  would  but  conform,  was  in 
i  n  old  age,  busy  with  his  elegant  pen.  Calamy.  of 
J, on. ion. — whose  father  for  preaching  had  been  Benl  to 
Newgate,  and  whose  son,  now  a  boy  of  I  welve  years,  was 
to  be  the  historian  of  the  heroes  of  Non-<  lonformity, — 
was  Looking  eagerly  toward  the  New  World,  to  learn 
what    welcome   the  exiled   for  conscience'  sake  found 

a] its  shores;  and   to  him,  with   his  friends  in   the 

great  metropolis,  Makemie  himself  was  to  turn  for 
sympathy  and  aid  in  his  arduous  task.  Indeed,  in  the 
early  history  of  the  Preshyterian  Church,  every  vessel 
that  passrd  from  the  Old  World  to  the  New  might  have 
borne  with  it  some  story  of  persecuted  faith,  some  illus- 
tration of  religious  intolerance,  to  make  the  voluntary 
exile  for  conscience'  sake  pledge  himself  anew  to  the 
cause  for  which  he,  as  well  as  his  fathers,  had  suffered. 
Then  came  the  grievous  hardships  to  which  for  succes- 
sive generations  "Dissenters"  had  heen  subjected  in 
Virginia,  the  establishment  of  the  Episcopal  Church  in 
the  Carolinas,  the  tines  and  imprisonment  of  Makemie 
in  New  York,  and  the  bigoted  jealousy  which  up  to 
the  very  moment  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence 
denied  the  Presbyterians  of  that  city  a  charter  of  in- 
corporation, to  confirm,  even  by  the  exasperations  of 
wrong,  the  fidelity  of  the  Church  to  the  principles 
upon  which,  by  New  Testament  authority,  it  had  becD 
established. 

And  yet — in  spite  of  temporary  grievances,  now  fast 
passing  away — Presbyterians  loved,  and  had  good 
reason  to  love,  this  land  of  their  nativity  or  adoption. 
Here  wrere  no  cumbrous  hierarchies,  no  prescriptive 
rights  of  nobility  or  primogeniture,  no  courts  of  Star 
Chamber  ami  High  Commission,  no  obtrusive  and  im- 
pertinent interferences,  save  in  a  few  instances,  with 
freedom  of  worship,  or  the  enjoyment  of  civil  and  reli- 
gious  rights.     Here    were    institutions    which,    if    left 


176  HISTORY   OF    PRESBYTERIAN1SM. 

undisturbed,  came  nearer  than  any  others  on  the  globe 
to  realiziug  the  ideal  of  a  free  and  liberal  government. 
Here  the  citizen  might  hope  to  enjoy  for  himself,  and 
transmit  to  his  children,  the  blessings  of  equal  laws  and 
constitutional  freedom.  Here  was  a  treasure,  therefore, 
worthy  to  be  esteemed  above  all  price, — a  treasure  not 
to  be  surrendered  to  the  arrogant  claims  and  encroach- 
ments of  the  British  ministry,  or  to  be  yielded  to  the 
terror  even  of  invading  armies.  Nor  did  it  need  any 
remarkable  sagacity  to  perceive  that  the  mischief  to 
be  dreaded  was  involved  in  the  very  principle  on 
which  encroachment  was  based.  Let  that  principle 
be  yielded,  and  no  limit  could  be  set  to  the  arrogance 
that  demanded  the  first  concession.  One  right  after 
another  might  be  wrenched  away,  and  religious  liberty 
would  not  long  survive  the  loss  of  civil  privilege. 

With  the  Presbyterian  and  Congregational  Churches 
of  the  land,  this  consideration  had  great  weight.  They 
knew  that  there  were  among  them  many  whose  work 
was  to  spy  out  their  liberties  and  send  back  sinister 
reports  across  the  ocean.  They  were  well  aware  that 
upon  them  were  the  eyes  of  men  to  whom  the  trap- 
pings and  forms  of  Episcopacy  were  as  delicious  as  the 
leeks  and  onions  of  Egypt  to  the  Israelites  in  the 
desert.  They  knew  that  with  thousands  on  both  sides 
of  the  ocean  it  was  a  favorite  project  to  cement  the 
unity  of  the  empire  by  the  introduction  and  establish- 
ment in  this  country  of  diocesan  bishops.  Not  that 
they  envied  "  the  Episcopal  churches  the  privileges  of 
a  bishop,  for  the  purposes  of  ordination,  confirmation, 
and  inspecting  the  morals  of  the  clergy;"1  not  that  they 
would  deny  to  others  the  rights  or  privileges  which 

1  Language  employed  in  reference  to  the  subject, — Minutes  of 
the  convention  of  delegates  from  the  Synod  and  Connecticut  Asso- 
ciation, p.  13. 


THE    REVOLUTIONARY'    WAR.  177 

they  claimed  themselves;  but  they  wauled  no  bishops 
with  powers  such  as  were  " annexed  to  the  office  by 
the  common  Law  of  England/'  "  Our  forefathers,"  said 
they,  "and  even  some  of  ourselves,  have  seen  and  felt 
the  tyranny  of  bishops'  courts.  Many  of  the  first 
inhabitants  of  these  colonies  were  obliged  to  Beek  an 
asylum  among  savages  in  this  wilderness,  in  order  to 
escape  the  ecclesiastical  tyranny  of  Archbishop  Laud 
and  others  of  his  stamp.  Such  tyranny,  if  now^xer- 
cised  in  America,  would  either  drive  IIS  to  seek  new 
habitations  among  the  heathen,  where  England  could 
not  claim  a  jurisdiction,  or  excite  riots,  rebellion,  and 
wild  disorder.  We  dread  the  consequences,  as  often  as 
we  think  of  this  danger." 

Nor  was  the  danger  merely  imaginary.  The  Epis- 
copacy which  our  fathers  dreaded  was  the  Episcopacy 
which  they  had  knowTn  in  England,  commingling  the 
exercise  of  civil  with  that  of  ecclesiastical  prerogative. 
It  was  the  Episcopacy  which  turned  out  the  Non-Con- 
formists, and  which  forced  Scotland  almost  into  open 
revolt.  It  wras  the  Episcopacy  which,  grafted  on  the 
old  Virginia  intolerance,  would  exterminate  "  dissent," 
impose  tithes  and  church-rates,  and  set  up  ecclesias- 
tical courts  sure  to  encroach  on  the  rights  of  conscience. 
Disavowing  the  desire  to  introduce  it  with  its  more 
obnoxious  features,  the  clergy  of  New  York  and  New- 
Jersey  yet  petitioned  for  the  Episcopate,  pleading  that 
nearly  a  million  of  the  inhabitants  desired  it.  Ameri- 
cans in  England  were  openly  told  that  bishops  should 
be  "settled  in  America,  in  spite  of  all  the  Presbyterian 
opposition."     The  matter  was  no  secret. 

As  early  as  1 748,  in  the  times  of  Archbishop  Seeker. 
— perhaps  earlier. — it  had  been  proposed  to  introduce 
Episcopacy  into  New  England  by  elevating  some  of  the 
most  distinguished  of  the  clergy  to  an  episcopal  pre- 
eminence over  their  brethren.     But  the  bribe  held  out 


178  HISTORY    OF    PRESBYTERIANISM. 

was  promptly  and  nobly  spurned.  Whitefield,  on  one 
of  his  last  visits  to  this  country,  had  communicated 
information,1  which  he  had  derived  from  an  official 
source,  of  the  project  entertained  in  England  of  making 
in  this  country  the  Episcopal  the  Established  Church. 
Enough  was  known  to  excite  jealousy  and  suspicion, 
and  unite  all  non-Episcopal  denominations  in  resist- 
ance to  the  project.  In  the  Political  Register  of  1769 
is  a  picture  entitled  "  An  attempt  to  land  a  bishop  in 
America."  The  name  to  be  read  on  the  vessel's  side  is 
that  of  Hillsborough,  the  then  Colonial  Secretary.  The 
vessel  has  touched  the  wharf,  but  a  crowd  of  earnest 
people  with  long  poles  are  pushing  her  from  her  moor- 
ings. One  of  the  multitude  has  a  book  entitled  "Sid- 
ney on  Government"  another  has  a  volume  of  "Locke's 
Essays"  a  third,  in  Quaker  garb,  has  "Barclay's  Apology" 
open  before  him,  while  from  the  lips  of  a  fourth  issues 
a  scroll  inscribed,  "  No  lords,  spiritual  or  temporal,  in 
New  England."  Half-way  up  the  shrouds  of  the  vessel 
is  a  bishop  in  his  robes,  his  mitre  falling,  and  a  volume 
of  Calvin's  works,  hurled  by  one  on  shore,  is  about  to 
strike  his  head.  From  the  bishop's  lips  issues  a  scroll, 
on  which  is  inscribed  the  nunc  dimittis  of  aged  Simeon, 
while  in  the  foreground  is  a  paper  with  the  words, 
"  Shall  they  be  obliged  to  maintain  a  bishop  who  can- 
not maintain  themselves  1"  At  the  same  time,  a  mon- 
key near  by  is  throwing  a  stone  at  the  bishop.  The 
picture  is  significant  as  expressing  the  popular  feeling 
in  opposition  to  Episcopal  projects. 

This  feeling  found  prompt  and  decided  expression  in 
the  papers  of  the  day.  It  was  at  just  this  period  (1766) 
that  a  voluntary  Episcopal  convention  of  the  clergy 
of  New  York  and  New  Jersey  was  held  j  and  by  them 
the  petition  for  bishops,  already  referred  to,  was  drawn 


1  Gordon's  America,  vol.  i. 


THE    REVOLUTIONARY    WAR.  179 

ftp  to  be  forwarded  to  England.     Dr.  B.  Chandler,  of 
Elizabethtown,  was  requested  to  write  and  publish  an 

appeal    to   the   public   in   favor  of   the    project.     The 

appeal   was  published  in  1707,  but  was  soon  ably  an- 
swered by  Dr.  Charles  Chauneey,  of  Boston. 

The  paper  controversy  had  now  commenced:  by  the 
close  of  the  following  year,  articles  bad  been  published 
sufficient  in  number  and  length  to  be  comprised  in  two 
volumes,  which  were  published  at  New  York  in  1708. 
The  convention  of  Congregational,  Consociated,  and 
Presbyterian  Churches,  which  began  its  annual  meet- 
ings in  17G6,  had  its  attention  called  to  the  subject. 
Indeed,  the  convention  itself  originated  in  the  general 
apprehension  of  the  common  danger.  The  opposition 
was  not  to  bishops  vested  only  with  spiritual  powers, 
but  to  the  governmental  sanction  of  an  episcopate 
whose  temporal  ambition  would  be  thereby  inflamed, 
and  which  would  not  be  disposed  to  rest  till  it  enjoyed 
the  prestige  and  emoluments  of  an  Establishment. 

There  was,  therefore,  grave  reason  for  apprehension. 
The  projects  of  the  British  ministry  were  scarcely  even 
disguised.  But  the  Presbyterian  Church  was  not  dis- 
posed to  meet  them  with  tame  submission.  The  spirit 
of  Makemie  still  lived  in  the  hearts  of  those  upon  whom 
his  mantle  had  fallen.  The  cause  of  civil  was  with 
them  also  the  cause  of  religious  freedom.  They  wanted 
no  Establishment,  no  Episcopal  arrogance,  no  lords 
spiritual,  on  this  side  of  the  Atlantic.  The  mere  know- 
ledge of  the  threatened  danger  tended  strongly  to  unite 
them  almost  to  a  man  in  opposition. 

Equally  significant  was  the  attitude  of  the  Episcopal 
Church.  For  the  most  part  it  was  ultra-loyal.  It  num. 
bered  only  here  and  there  a  clergyman  who  manifested 
the  least  sympathy  for  the  cause  of  liberty.  Thev 
"leaned,  with  very  few  exceptions,  throughout  the 
colonies,  to  the  side  of  the  crown,  and  in  the  Middle 


180  HISTORY    OF    PRESBYTERIANISM. 

and  Northern  provinces  their  flocks  were  chiefly  of  the 
same  way  of  thinking."1  This  fact  was  not  without 
its  influence.  It  reacted  upon  the  minds  of  the  Pres- 
byterians, and  made  them  still  more  earnest  in  their 
efforts  and  apprehensive  in  their  fears. 

Thus  was  a  religious  element  mingled  in  the  strife. 
It  was  not  merely  a  protest  against  stamped  paper  and 
a  tax  on  tea,  but  it  was  the  cause  of  civil  rights,  of  con- 
science, and  of  religious  freedom.  It  required  no  little 
strength  of  conviction  to  sustain  the  patriotism  of 
the  country  through  a  seven-years  conflict ;  but  what 
was  required  was  found  to  exist.  The  Revolution  came, 
and  it  found  no  more  steadfast  friends  and  adherents 
than  in  the  ranks  of  the  Presbyterian  Church. 

The  influence  of  the  war  upon  the  condition  and 
prospects  of  the  Presbyterian  Church,  throughout  the 
country,  was  most  disastrous.  Its  members  were  almost 
all  decided  patriots,  and  its  ministers,  almost  to  a  man, 
were  accounted  arch-rebels.  Their  well-known  views 
and  sympathies  made  them  specially  obnoxious  to  the 
enemy,  and  to  be  known  as  a  Presbyterian  was  to  incur 
all  the  odium  of  a  "Whig."  It  is  not  strange,  there- 
fore, that  they  should  have  been  the  marked  victims 
of  hostility,  or  that  they  should  have  been,  in  many 
cases,  mercilessly  molested  in  property  and  person. 

In  initiating  the  Revolution,  and  in  sustaining  the 
patriotic  resistance  of  their  countrymen  to  illegal 
tyranny,  the  ministers  of  the  Presbyterian  Church 
bore  a  conspicuous  and  even  foremost  part.  Through- 
out that  most  trying  and  disastrous  period  through 
which  the  Church  and  country  had  as  yet  been  called 
to  pass,  they  proved  themselves  alike  faithful  to  both. 
Their  conduct  fully  justified  the  noble  utterance  of  the 
Synod  of  1775,  a  few  weeks  after  the  first  blood  was 

i  Hildreth,  iii.  56. 


THE    REVOLUTIONARY    WAR.  181 

sbcil  at  Lexington.  They  preached  the  duty  of  resist- 
ing tyrants.  They  cheered  their  people  in  the  dreary 
periods  of  the  conflict  by  inspiring  lofty  trust  in  the 

God  of  nations.  Some  of  them  were  engaged  person- 
ally in  the  army.  Some  occupied  a  place  in  the  civil 
councils.  Others  were  personal  sufferers  from  the  ven- 
geance of  an  exasperated  foe,  and  others,  still,  sealed 
their  devotion  to  their  country  by  their  blood.1 

Among  those  who  advocated  the  cause  of  the  colo- 
nies, and  who  from  the  pulpit  endeavored  to  strengthen 
patriotic  zeal  by  Christian  principle,  it  would  be  almost 
invidious  to  name  any;  for  nearly  all  were  alike  guilty 
in  this  respect.  Dr.  Witherspoon,  Patrick  Allison  in 
Baltimore,  William  Tennent  in  Charleston,  George 
Dufiield  in  Philadelphia,  John  Miller  at  Dover,  James 
Waddel  and  John  Blair  Smith  in  Virginia,  led  the  way 
in  vindicating  from  the  pulpit  the  cause  of  American 
freedom. 

On  the  fast-day  (May  17,  1776)  Dr.  Witherspoon 
preached  a  sermon, — afterward  published  and  dedi- 
cated to  John  Hancock, — in  which  he  entered  fully 
into  the  great  political  questions  of  the  day.  It  mani- 
fested his  loyal  zeal  in  behalf  of  his  adopted  country, 
and  his  ability  to  vindicate  her  cause.  Republished, 
with  notes,  in  Glasgow,  it  subjected  its  author  to  the 
odium  of  a  rebel  and  a  traitor.  A  member  of  the  Pro- 
vincial Congress  of  New  Jersey,  he  was  elected  by 
that  body  to  the  Continental  Congress,  and  took  part 
in  defending  the  project  of  the  Declaration  of  Inde- 
pendence. During  the  debate  on  its  adoption,  he  is 
reported  to  have  said,  "  That  noble  instrument  on  youi 
table,  which  secures  immortality  to  its  author,  should 
be  subscribed  this  very  morning  by  every  pen  in  this 


1  The    facts    that    follow  have    been   dei'ived   from  very  various 
sources,  although  n  ost  of  them  are  from  Sprague's  Annals. 
Vui..  L— 1G 


182  HISTORY    OF    PRESBYTERIANISM. 

house.  He  who  will  not  respond  to  its  accents,  and 
strain  every  nerve  to  carry  into  effect  its  provisions,  is 
unworthy  the  name  of  a  freeman.  Although  these  gray 
hairs  must  descend  into  the  sepulchre,  I  would  infinitely 
rather  they  should  descend  thither  by  the  hand  of  the 
public  executioner  than  desert  at  this  crisis  the  sacred 
cause  of  my  country." 

John  Carmichael  preached,  at  their  request,  to  the 
militia  of  the  city  of  Lancaster.  The  discourse  of 
Miller,  of  Dover,  who  was  bold  in  the  expression  of  his 
patriotic  ardor,  was  especially  remarkable.  Several 
days  before  the  Declaration  of  Independence,  he  so  far 
anticipated  the  spirit  of  that  decisive  measure  as  to 
address  his  people  from  that  significant  text,  indicative 
enough  of  his  own  views, — "  We  have  no  part  in  David, 
nor  any  inheritance  in  the  son  of  Jesse :  to  your  tents, 
O  Israel !"  Eobert  Davidson,  pastor  of  the  First  Pres- 
byterian Church  of  Philadelphia,  at  the  commencement 
of  the  war,  preached  before  several  military  companies 
from  the  text,  "  For  there  fell  down  many  slain,  because 
the  war  was  of  God."  A  fortnight  after,  it  was  repeated 
before  the  troops  at  Burlington.  Sermons  of  this  stamp 
were  by  no  means  infrequent.  Many  of  the  soldiers 
were  Presbyterians,  and  in  the  camp  sought  the  privi- 
lege of  hearing  their  own  pastors,  who  sometimes,  in 
their  anxiety  for  their  spiritual  welfare,  followed  them 
to  the  field. 

Of  John  Craighead,  pastor  of  Rocky  Spring  Church, 
Pa.,  it  is  said  that  "  he  fought  and  preached  alter- 
nately." At  the  commencement  of  the  war  he  raised 
a  company  from  the  members  of  his  charge,  and  joined 
Washington's  army  in  New  Jersey.  His  friend  Dr 
Cooper,  of  Middle  Spring  Church,  is  also  said  to  have 
been  the  captain  of  a  company.1    He  preached  "  before 

1  Mr.  Craighead  was  a  humorist,  and  many  good  jokes  are  told 
of   him.      One   day,  it   is    said,  going  into    battle,  a   cannon-ball 


Tin:    aEVOLl  TIONABY    WAR.  183 

Colonel  Montgomery's  battalion  under  arms,"  near 
Shippensburgj  Pa.,  Augusl  31,  1775,  a  sermon  entitled 
"  Courage  in  a  Good  Cause."1  Dr.  King,  of  Conoco- 
oheagae  (Mercersburg),  was  eminent  for  his  patriotic 
zeal.  He  not  only  volunteered  his  services,  and  went 
as  chaplain  to  the  battalion  which  marched  from  his 
region,  but  many  were  the  addresses  which  he  delivered 
to  inspirit  the  hearts  of  the  people  in  their  devotion  to 
the  cause  of  the  country. 

From  one  of  these,  something  may  be  gathered  of 
the  tone  of  pulpit  utterance  in  that  trying  period. 
"Subjection,"  he  said,  "is  demanded  of  us,  but  it  is  not 
the  constitutional  subjection  which  we  are  bound  to 
pay;  it  is  not  a  legal  subjection  to  the  king  they  would 
bring  us  to.  That  we  already  acknowledge.  But  it  is  a 
subjection  to  the  British  Parliament,  or  to  the  people  of 
Great  Britain.  This  we  deny,  and,  I  hope,  will  always 
deny.  They  are  not  our  lords  and  masters;  they  are 
no  more  than  our  brethren  and  our  fellow-subjects. 
They  call  themselves,  and  it  has  been  usual  to  call  them, 
the  mother-country.  But  this  is  only  a  name,  and,  if  there 
was  any  thing  in  it,  one  would  think  that  it  should  lead 
them  to  treat  us  like  children,  with  parental  affection. 
But  is  it  fatherly  or  motherly  to  strip  us  of  every 
thing,  to  rob  us  of  every  right  and  privilege,  and  then 
to  whip  and  dragoon  us  witb  fleets  and  armies  till  we 
are  pleased  ?  No !  as  the  name  does  not  belong  to  them, 
so  their  conduct  shows  they  have  no  right  to  claim  it. 
We  are  on  an  equal  footing  with  them  in  all  respects; 

struck  a  tree  near  him,  a  splinter  of  which  nearly  knocked  him 
down.  "God  bless  me!"  exclaimed  Mr.  Cooper,  "you  were  nearly 
knocked  to  staves."  "Oh,  yes,"  was  his  reply;  "and,  though  you 
are  a  cooper,  you  could  not  have  set  me  up." — Nevin's  Churches  of  (he 
Valley,  211. 

1  This  sermon  is  in  possession  of  the  Presbyterian  Historical 
Society. 


184  HISTORY    OF    PRESBYTER1ANISM. 

with  respect  to  government  and  privileges;  and,  there- 
fore, their  usurpation  ought  to  be  opposed.  Nay,  when 
the  king  uses  the  executive  branch  of  government 
which  is  in  his  hand,  to  enable  one  part  of  his  subjects 
to  lord  it  over  and  oppress  another,  it  is  a  sufficient 
ground  of  our  applying  to  the  laws  of  nature  for  our 
defence. 

"  But  this  is  the  case  with  us.  We  have  no  other 
refuge  from  slavery  but  those  powers  which  God  has 
given  us  and  allowed  us  to  use  in  defence  of  our  dearest 
rights;  and  I  hope  he  will  bless  our  endeavors  and  give 
success  to  this  oppressed  people,  and  that  the  wicked 
instruments  of  all  these  distractions  shall  meet  their 
due  reward.  I  earnestly  wish  that  in  such  troublous 
times,  while  we  plead  for  liberty,  a  proper  guard  may 
be  kept  against  any  turbulent  or  mobbish  outbreak, 
and  that  unanimity  may  be  universal  both  in  counsel 
and  action,  and  that  we  may  still  have  an  eye  to  the 
great  God,  who  has  some  important  reasons  for  such 
severe  corrections.  Let  us  look  to  the  rod  and  Him 
that  hath  appointed  it;  let  us  humble  ourselves  before 
him  daily  for  our  sins,  and  depend  upon  him  for  suc- 
cess. If  he  be  against  us,  in  vain  do  we  struggle ;  if 
the  Lord  be  for  us,  though  an  host  should  encamp 
against  us,  we  need  not  be  afraid. " 

In  one  of  the  darkest  hours  of  the  strife, — after  the 
repulse  in  Canada, — he  said,  in  a  funeral  discourse  on 
the  death  of  Montgomery,  "  Surely  we  have  still  reason 
for  the  exercise  of  faith  and  confidence  in  God,  that  he 
will  not  give  a  people  up  to  the  unlimited  will  and 
power  of  others,  who  have  done  all  they  could  to  avert 
the  calamity,  and  have  so  strenuously  adhered  to  the 
cause  of  reason  and  humanity, — a  people  who  have 
been  attacked  with  unprovoked  violence,  and  driven 
with  the  greatest  reluctance  to  take  up  arms  for  their 
defence, — a  people  whom  he  himself,  by  a   series  of 


THE    REVOLUTIONARY    WAR.  185 


gracious  actings,  hath  gradually  led  on  to  this  condi- 
tion. .  .  .  Therefore,  when  these  are  our  circumstances, 
we  may  rationally  judge  that  God  is  not  an  uncon- 
cerned spectator,  but  that  he  sees  and  will  reward  the 
persecutors.  Man}*  things,  indeed,  seem  to  be  against 
us;  a  very  great  and  powerful  enemy,  who  have  been 
long  trained  to  victory;  their  numerous  and  savage 
allies,  who,  having  lost  their  liberty,  would  have  others 
in  the  same  condition;  our  weakness  and  inexperience 
in  war,  internal  enemies,  the  loss  of  many  of  our 
friends,  and  a  beloved  and  able  general.  But  let  not 
these  destroy  our  hopes  or  damp  our  spirits.  To  put 
too  much  confidence  in  man  is  the  way  to  provoke  God 
to  deprive  us  of  them.  This  may,  perhaps,  be  the  dark- 
ness which  precedes  the  glorious  day.  ...  It  is  agree- 
able to  God's  method  to  bring  low  before  he  exalteth, 
to  humble  before  he  raises  up.  Let  us  trust  in  him 
and  do  our  duty,  and  commit  the  event  to  his  deter- 
mination, who  can  make  these  things  to  be  for  us 
wThich,  by  a  judgment  of  sense,  we  are  ready  to  say  are 
against  us." 

In  a  similar  strain  did  he  exhort  the  soldiers  march- 
ing to  the  field,  or  address  the  people  who  remained 
behind.  "  Be  thou  faithful  unto  death,"  was  the  text 
of  one  of  his  discourses.  "  There  is  no  soldier,"  he 
said,  "  so  truly  courageous  as  a  pious  man.  There  is 
no  army  so  formidable  as  those  who  are  superior  to 
the  fear  of  death.  Consequently,  no  one  qualification 
is  more  necessary  in  a  soldier  than  true  religion." 
These  words  were  accompanied  by  the  tender  counsels 
of  a  pastor  whose  affections  followed  his  men  to  the 
scenes  of  danger  ana  death.  With  the  greatest  earnest- 
ness he  urged  them  to  watch  over  their  own  souls,  and 
not  to  bring  dishonor  on  the  cause  to  which  they  were 
attached. 

While  several  of  the  Presbyterian  ministers  per 
16* 


186  HISTORY    OF    PRESBYTERIANISM. 

formed  service  and  led  companies  to  the  field,  a  large 
number  were  engaged  as  chaplains  in  the  army.  Alexan- 
der MeWhorter — afterward  Dr.  MeWhorter,  of  Newark, 
■ — was  chaplain  of  Knox's  brigade  while  it  lay  at  White 
Plains,  and  often  had  General  Washington  among  his 
hearers.  James  F.  Armstrong — afterward  of  Elizabeth- 
town — joined  a  volunteer  company  before  his  licensure, 
and,  soon  after  he  was  ordained,  was  appointed  by  Con- 
gress "  chaplain  of  the  second  brigade  of  the  Maryland 
forces."  Adam  Boyd  was  chaplain  of  the  North  Caro- 
lina brigade.  Daniel  McCalla.was  sent  to  Canada  as 
chaplain  with  General  Thompson's  forces  at  the  com- 
mencement of  hostilities.  Dr.  John  Eodgers  was  chap- 
lain of  Heath's  brigade.  George  Duffield,  in  connection 
with  Mr.  (afterward  Bishop)  White,  was  employed  as 
chaplain  of  the  Colonial  Congress. 

It  was  not  infrequently  that  the  minister  of  peace  felt 
called  upon  to  engage  in  active  service  in  the  armies  of 
his  country;  and  not  a  few  of  the  young  men  who  had 
won  distinction  in  the  use  of  carnal  weapons  became 
afterward  still  more  eminent  in  the  service  of  the  gos- 
pel. When  an  unusual  number  of  his  people  had  been 
drafted  to  serve  in  the  militia,  James  Latta,  of  Chesnut 
Level,  with  a  view  to  encourage  them,  took  his  blanket, 
shouldered  his  knapsack,  and  accompanied  them  on 
their  campaign.  James  Caldwell,  chaplain  of  the  Jer- 
sey brigade,  accompanied  his  own  parishioners  to  the 
camp,  and,  with  a  price  set  upon  his  head,  it  is  not  sur- 
prising that  when  he  preached  at  "  the  Old  Eed  Store" 
he  was  first  seen  to  disengage  himself  of  his  pistols. 
Samuel  Eakin,  of  Penn's  Neck,  was  a  strong  Whig, 
and  the  idol  of  the  soldiers.  Gifted  with  extraordinary 
eloquence,  and  accounted  scarcely  inferior  to  White- 
field,  he  was  ever  on  the  alert  to  kindle  the  patriotic 
zeal  of  his  countrymen.  When  there  were  military 
training**,  or  the  soldiers  were  ordered  to  march,  he 


THE    REVOLUTIONARY    WAR.  187 

was  present  to  address  them  and  thrill  them  hy  his 
eloquence.1  John  Blair  Smith,  teacher,  and  afterward 
President,  of  Hampden -Sidney  College,  was  chosen 
captain  of  a  company  of  students,  and,  after  the  battle 
of  Cowpens,  hurried  to  join  the  retreating  army,  and 
was  only  dissuaded  by  the  remonstrances  of  the  com- 
manding officer,  who  represented  to  him  that  his  patri- 
otic speeches  at  home  would  be  far  more  valuable  than 
his  Bervices  in  the  camp.  James  Hall,  of  North  Caro- 
lina, subsequently  the  pioneer  missionary  in  the  Val- 
ley of  the  Mississippi,  was  selected  as  leader  anc1 
accepted  the  command  of  a  company  formed  mainly 
from  his  own  congregation,  whom  his  fervid  and 
pathetic  appeals  had  inspired  to  arm  against  Corn- 
wall is.  Such  was  his  reputation  that  he  was  offered 
the  commission  of  brigadier-general. 

When  Tarleton  and  his  British  dragoons  spread  con- 
sternation throughout  the  surrounding  Valley  of  Vir- 
ginia. "William  Graham,  John  Brown,  and  Archibald 
Scott  exhorted  the  stripling  youths  of  their  congrega- 
1  ions — their  elder  brethren  were  already  with  Washing- 
ton— to  rise,  join  their  neighbors,  and  dispute  the  pass- 
age of  the  invader  and  his  legion  at  Roekfish  Gap,  on 
the  Blue  Eidge.  Graham  was  the  master-spirit;  but  he 
was  heartily  supported  by  his  co-Presbyters.  On  one 
occasion,  when  there  was  backwardness  to  enlist,  he 
had  his  own  name  enrolled.  The  effect  was  such  that 
the  company  was  immediately  filled,  and  he  was  unani- 
mously chosen  captain.  It  is  worthy  of  mention  that 
Dr.  Ashbel  Green,  many  years  before  he  aspired  to  be 
an  ecclesiastical  leader,  had  attained  the  distinction  of 
orderly  sergeant  in  the  militia  of  the  Revolutionary 
period,  and  had  risked  his  life  in  the  cause  of  his  coun- 
try.    Dr.  Moses  Hoge  served  for  a   time,  previous  to 

1  Barber's  ttew  Jersey,  l^u. 


188  HISTORY    OF    PRESBYTERIANISM. 

entering  the  ministry,  in  the  army  of  the  Eevolution. 
Dr.  John  Brown,  President  of  Georgia  University,  had 
at  the  early  age  of  sixteen  exchanged  the  groves  of 
the  Academy  for  the  noise  and  bustle  of  the  camp,  and 
fought  with  intrepid  spirit,  by  the  side  of  Sumter,  his 
country's  battles.  Dr.  Asa  Hillyer,  of  Orange,  N.J., 
while  a  youth,  assisted  his  father,  a  surgeon  in  the 
Revolutionary  army.  Joseph  Badger  was  in  the  battle 
of  Bunker  Hill,  and  served  as  soldier,  baker,  nurse,  &c, 
in  Arnold's  expedition  to  Canada.  James  White  Ste- 
phenson, of  South  Carolina, — teacher  of  Andrew  Jack- 
son,— served  throughout  the  war,  and  on  one  occasion 
had  his  gun  shivered  in  his  hand  by  the  enemy's  shot, 
which  glanced  and  killed  the  man  who  stood  by  his  side. 
Lewis  Feuilleteau  Wilson,  who  studied  medicine  before 
his  attention  was  directed  to  theology,  served  for  seve- 
ral years  as  surgeon  in  the  Continental  army.  Simp- 
son, of  Fishing  Creek,  S.C.,  encouraged  his  people  to 
deeds  of  heroism  or  patient  endurance,  and  was  him- 
self found  bearing  arms,  and  was  in  several  engage- 
ments; and  Joseph  Alexander,  of  the  same  State,  was 
often  a  fugitive  from  his  own  home,  while  he  offered 
his  dwelling  at  all  times  as  a  hospital  for  sick  or 
wounded  soldiers.1  Jonas  Coe,  one  of  the  early  mem- 
bers of  the  Albany  Presbytery,  joined  the  army,  along 
with  his  father  and  four  brothers,  while  yet  a  youth  of 
sixteen.  Robert  Marshall,  afterward  an  eloquent  min- 
ister in  Kentucky,  was  in  six  general  engagements,  one 
of  which  was  the  hard-fought  battle  of  Monmouth. 
James  Turner,  the  eloquent  Virginian  preacher,  could 
boast  that  at  the  early  age  of  seventeen  he  had  seen 
service  in  the  Revolutionary  army. 

These  are  but  a  few  of  that  large  band  identified 
with  the   interests  of  the  Presbyterian  Church,   and 

1  Dr.  Howe's  Historical  Discourse. 


THE    REVOLUTIONARY    WAE.  L89 

then,  or  al  a  later  period,  Berving  a1  her  aitar,  who 
freely  risked  their  lives  in  the  Bervice  of  their  country. 

Whether  in  tin.'  bosom  of  their  own  congregations,  or 
serving  in  the  camp,  they  wore  animated  by  the  same 
devotion  to  the  cause  of  God  and  their  native  land. 
Their  message  everywhere  was  welcome.  The  soldier 
was  inspired  to  bolder  courage  by  the  look  and  words 
of  his  own  pastor,  or  the  pulpit  exhortations  of  those 
who  sinned  his  hardships  and  his  perils.  The  camp 
betrayed  the  presence  of  a  conservative  influence  which 
checked  the  vices  which  are  wont  to  be  indigenous  to 
it,  while  many  who  never  listened  to  the  gospel  before 
were  privileged  to  hear  it  at  a  crisis  when  at  every 
hour  they  stood  in  peril  of  their  lives. 

To  the  privations,  hardships,  and  cruelties  of  the  war 
the  Presbyterians  were  pre-eminently  exposed.  In  them 
the  very  essence  of  rebellion  was  supposed  to  be  con- 
centrated, and  by  the  wanton  plunderings  and  excesses 
of  the  marauding  parties  they  suffered  severely.  Their 
Presbyterian  ism  was  prima  facie  evidence  of  guilt.  A 
house  that  had  a  large  Bible  and  David's  Psalms  in 
metre  in  it  was  supposed,  as  a  matter  of  course,  to  be 
tenanted  by  rebels.  To  sing  "  Old  Bouse"  was  almost 
as  criminal  as  to  have  levelled  a  loaded  musket  at  a 
British  grenadier. 

To  the  Presbyterian  clergy  the  enemy  felt  an  espe- 
cial antipathy.  They  were  accounted  the  ringleaders 
of  rebellion.  For  them  there  was  often  not  so  much 
safety  in  their  own  dwellings  as  in  the  camp.  When 
their  people  were  scattered,  or  it  was  no  longer  safe  to 
reside  among  them,  the  only  alternative  was  to  flee  or 
join  the  army,  and  this  alternative  was  often  presented. 
Not  unfrequently  the  duty  of  the  chaplain -or  the  pastor 
exposed  him  to  dangers  as  great  as  those  which  the 
common  soldier  was  called  to  meet.  There  was  risk 
of  person,  sometimes   capture,  and   sometimes   loss  of 


190  HISTORY    OF    PRESBYTERIANISM. 

life.  Some  ministers  fled  for  safety.  Dr.  Eodgers  was 
forced  to  absent  himself  from  New  York  till  the  close 
of  the  war;  McKnight,  of  Shrewsbury,  1ST. J.,  was  car- 
ried off  a  captive;  Richards,  of  Railway,  N.J.,  took 
warning  and  fled.  Dr.  Buell,  of  East  Hampton,  L.I.,  who 
remained  at  his  post,  repeatedly  ran  imminent  risks 
even  from  the  men  whom  his  wit  and  urbanity  finally 
disarmed.  Duftield  was  saved  from  capture  at  Trenton 
only  by  the  timely  warning  of  a  friendly  Quaker.  At 
one  time,  while  the  enemy  were  on  Staten  Island,  he 
preached  to  the  soldiers  in  an  orchard  on  the  opposite 
side  of  the  bay.  The  forks  of  a  tree  served  him  for  a 
pulpit;  but  the  noise  of  the  singing  attracted  the  notice 
of  the  enemy,  and  soon  the  voice  of  praise  was  inter- 
rupted by  the  whistling  of  balls.  But  the  preacher, 
undismayed  by  the  danger,  bade  his  hearers  retire 
behind  a  hillock,  and  there  finished  his  sermon.  Daniel 
McCalla  was  confined  for  several  months  in  a  loathsome 
prison-ship  near  Quebec.  Nehemiah  Greenman,  of  Pitts- 
grove,  N.J. ,  fled  to  the  wilderness  to  escape  the  indigni- 
ties so  largely  dealt  out  by  the  enemy  to  the  Presby- 
terian ministers.  Azel  Roe,  of  Woodbridge,  N.  J.,  taken 
prisoner  by  the  enemy,  was  for  some  time  confined  in 
the  Old  Sugar-House.  He  came  near  having  a  fall  in  a 
small  stream  which  the  company  had  to  ford  on  the 
way.  The  commanding  officer  politely  offered  to  carry 
Mr.  Roe  over  on  his  back.  The  offer  was  accepted,  and 
the  suggestion  of  Mr.  Roe  to  the  officer  that  he  was 
priest-ridden  now,  if  never  before,  so  convulsed  him 
with  laughter  that  he  was  like  to  have  dropped  his. 
load.  Less  merciful  was  the  experience  of  John  Ros- 
brugh,  of  Allentown,  N.J.,  first  a  private  soldier  and 
afterward  chaplain  of  a  military  company  formed  in 
his  neighborhood,  and  who  was  shot  down  in  cold  blood 
by  a  body  of  Hessians  to  whom  he  had  surrendered  him- 
self a  prisoner. 


THE    REVOLUTIONARY    WAR.  191 

There  was  a  strange  commingling  of  carnal  and 
spiritual  weapons  in  the  experience  of  the  camp'. 
Joseph  Patterson,  one  of  the  fathers  of  the  Presbytery 
of  Redstone,  bad  just  knelt  to  pray  under  a  shed,  when 
a  board,  in  a  line  with  bis  bead,  was  shivered  by  the 
disc  barge  of  a  rifle.  Stephen  B.  Balch  preached  a  ser- 
mon on  subjection  to  the  higher  powers,  while  General 
Williams,  to  the  annoyance  of  royalists  who  were  pre- 
sent, protected  him  with  loaded  pistols  in  his  belt.  The 
ministers  on  the  frontiers,  exposed  to  the  attacks  of  the 
Indians,  were  compelled  to  go  constantly  armed.  Thad- 
deus  Dod,  with  his  people,  exchanged  his  church  for  the 
fort  that  bad  been  built  on  the  Monongahela.  Samuel 
Doak,  of  the  Holston  settlements,  paused  in  his  sermon 
at  the  alarm  of  an  attack,  seized  his  rifle  that  stood 
by  his  side,  and  led  his  male  hearers  in  pursuit  of  the 
foe. 

Not  a  few  of  the  ministers  of  the  Presbyterian 
Church  were  called  into  the  civil  service  of  their  coun- 
try. Dr.  Witherspoon  was  for  several  years  a  member 
of  the  Continental  Congress ;  his  sagacity  and  discre- 
tion were  highly  esteemed,  and  his  pen  was  in  frequent 
requisition.  Many  of  the  most  important  state  papers 
of  the  day,  in  relation  to  such  intricate  subjects  of 
political  economy  as  the  emission  of  paper  money  and 
the  mode  of  supplying  the  army  by  commission,  were 
written  by  him;  and  in  calls  for  the  observance  of  days 
of  fasting  and  prayer,  his  pen  was  usually  employed. 
Jacob  Green,  the  father  of  Dr.  Ashbel  Green,  was  a 
zealous  patriot,  and  was  elected,  though  contrary  to 
his  expressed  wishes,  a  member  of  the  Provincial  Con- 
gress of  New  Jersey.  He  was  chairman  of  the  com- 
mittee that  drafted  the  Constitution  of  the  State. 
Henry  Patillo  was  a  member  of  the  Provincial  Con- 
gress of  North   Carolina.     J.  J.  Zubly  was  a  delegate 


192  HISTORY    OF    PRESBYTERIANISM. 

from  Georgia  to  the  Continental  Congress.1  William 
Tennent,  of  the  Circular  Church,  Charleston,  was  a 
member  of  the  Provincial  Congress  of  South  Carolina, 
and  amid  the  fearful  emergencies  of  the  period,  and  at 
different  hours  of  the  same  day,  he  was  occasionally 
heard,  in  his  church  and  in  the  State-House,  addressing 
different  audiences,  with  equal  animation,  on  their  tem- 
poral and  spiritual  interests.  And,  not  content  with 
this,  in  company  with  William  H.  Drayton,  he  made 
the  circuit  of  the  middle  and  up  country  of  the  State, 
to  stimulate  the  people  to  resistance.2  David  Caldwell 
was  a  member  of  the  convention  that  formed  the  State 
Constitution  of  North  Carolina;  Kettletas,  of  Jamaica, 
was  chosen  a  delegate  to  the  New  York  Convention ; 
and  Duffield,  Rodgers,  McWhorter,  and  others,  were 
often  consulted  by  civil  and  military  officers  in  the 
trying  crises  of  the  Revolutionary  period,  and  they 
were  alwaj^s  prompt  to  render  their  services.  Like 
Thomas  Read,  of  Delaware,  roused  from  his  bed  at 
midnight  to  describe  the  region  which  the  army  was 
to  traverse  and  in  which  he  might  act  as  a  guide,  they 
were  never  wanting  when  their  country  required  their 
counsel  or  their  aid. 

It  is  not  strange  that  their  course  was  regarded  as 
specially  obnoxious  by  the  British  troops.  Their  houses 
were  plundered,  their  churches  often  burned,  and  their 
books  and  manuscripts  committed  to  the  flames.  The 
church  of  Midway,  in  Georgia, — then  Congregational, 
— rendered  itself  obnoxious  to  the  foe  by  its  patriotic 
zeal.  In  November,  1778,  a  special  detachment  from 
Florida  attacked  the  settlement,  burned  the  church- 
edifice,  almost  every  dwelling-house,  the  crops  of  rice, 


1  He  did  not,  however,  approve  the  Declaration  of  Independence, 
und  was  subsequently  banished  from  Georgia. 

2  Dr.  Howe's  Historical  Discourse. 


THE    REVOLUTIONARY    WAR.  193 

then  in  stack,  drove  off  the  negroes  and  horses,  carried 
away  fche  plate  belonging  to  the  planters,  and  outraged 
even  the  graves  of  the  dead.  Some  of  the  members 
<>f  the  congregation  were  seized  and  imprisoned.     Dr. 

McWhorter  had  removed  to  Carolina  while  the  enemy, 
under  Cornwallis,  threatened  the  Southern  country. 
Under  the  apprehension  of  danger,  he  fled  with  his 
family,  and  on  his  return  found  that  his  library,  furni- 
ture, and  nearly  all  that  he  possessed  had  been  sacri- 
ficed. Not  less  unfortunate  were  Elihu  Spencer,  at 
Tit 1 1 ton,  and  David  Caldwell  and  Hugh  McAden.  of 
North  Carolina.  On  many  occasions  the  soldiers  stu- 
diously destroyed  all  that  they  could  not  carry  away, 
ami  the  Presbyterian  clergy  were  generally  the  special 
objects  of  vengeance. 

As  might  be  expected,  religion  suffered  greatly 
throughout  the  entire  period  of  the  war.  The  church- 
edifices  were  often  taken  possession  of  by  an  insolent 
soldiery  and  turned  into  hospitals  or  prisons,  or  per- 
verted to  still  baser  uses  as  stables  or  riding-schools. 
The  church  at  Newtown  had  its  steeple  sawed  off,  and 
was  used  as  a  prison  and  guard-house  till  it  was  torn 
down  and  its  siding  used  for  the  soldiers'  huts.  The 
church  at  Crumpond  was  burned  to  save  it  from  being 
occupied  by  the  enemy.  That  of  Mount  Holly  was 
burned  by  accident  or  design.  The  one  at  Princeton 
was  taken  possession  of  by  the  Hessian  soldiers,  and 
Stripped  of  its  pews  and  gallery  for  fuel.  A  fireplace 
was  built  in  it.  and  a  chimney  carried  up  through  its 
roof.  Supposing  it  would  be  defended  against  him, 
Washington  planted  his  cannon  a  short  distance  off  and 
commenced  firing  into  it.  It  was  subsequently  occu- 
pied by  the  American  soldiers,  and  the  close  of  the  war 

found  it  dilapidated    and  open  to  the  weather,  while  its 
interior  was  quite  defaced  and  desrroyed.     The  church 
of  Wostfield  was  injured  by  the  enemy  and  its  bell  car- 
Vol.  I. — 17 


19-4  HISTORY    OF    PRESBYTERIANISM. 

ried  off  to  New  York.  The  church  of  Babylon,  Long 
Island,  was  torn  down  by  the  enemy  for  military  pur- 
poses. That  of  New  Windsor  was  used  as  a  hospital. 
This  was  the  case  also  with  the  one  at  Morristown;  and 
repeatedly  in  the  morning  the  dead  were  found  lying 
in  the  pews.  The  one  at  Elizabethtown  was  made  a 
hospital  for  the  sick  and  disabled  soldiers  of  the  Ameri- 
can army.  Its  bell  sounded  the  note  of  alarm  at  the 
approach  of  the  foe,  while  its  floor  was  often  the  bed 
of  the  weary  soldier,  and  the  seats  of  its  pews  served 
as  the  table  from  which  he  ate  his  scanty  meal.  At 
length  it  was  fired  by  the  torch  of  the  refugee,  in  ven- 
geance for  the  uses  to  which  it  had  been  devoted.  The 
churches  at  New  York  were  taken  possession  of  by  the 
enemy.  Prisoners  were  confined  in  them,  or  they  were 
used  by  the  British  officers  for  stabling  their  horses. 
Ethan  Allen  describes  the  filth  that  had  accumulated 
in  the  one  with  which  he  was  acquainted,  as  altogether 
intolerable.1  The  loathsome  victims  of  disease,  foul 
with  their  own  excrements,  lay  stretched  upon  the 
floor.  And  throughout  the  country  the  church-edifices, 
unless  some  selfish  motive  prevented,  were  treated  with 
but  little  more  respect.  More  than  fifty  places  of  wor- 
ship throughout  the  land  were  utterly  destroyed  by  the 
enemy  during  the  period  of  the  war.2  The  larger  num- 
ber of  these  were  burned,  others  were  levelled  to  the 
ground,  while  others  still  were  so  defaced  or  injured  as 
to  be  utterly  unfit  for  use.  This  was  the  case  in  several 
of  the  principal  cities,  at  Philadelphia  and  Charleston, 
as  well  as  New  York.3 

Even  where  the  church-edifice  was  left  unmolested, 
the  congregation  was  often  scattered.     At  Albany,  for 

1  Life  of  Ethan  Allen.  2  Life  of  Dr.  Rodgers. 

3  Other  denominations  sometimes  suffered  as  well  as  the  Presby- 
terians. The  Quaker-meeting  house  at  Birmingham,  Pa.,  was  used 
as  a  hospital  after  the  battle  of  Chadd's  Ford. 


THE    REVOLUTIONARY    WAR.  195 

the  most  part  beyond  the  reach  of  the  enemy,  the 
ordinances  of  religion  almost  altogether  ceased,  and 
with  the  returD  of  peace  the  church  had  to  be  organ- 
ized anew.  This  was  no  infrequent  experience.  Pas- 
tors, in  many  cases,  were  not  allowed  to  continue  their 
ministry,  or  like  Rodgers,  of  New  York,  Richards,  of 
Rahway,  Prime,  of  Huntington,  or  Duffield,  of  Phila- 
delphia, were  forced  to  flee  for  their  lives. 

But  all  did  not  escape.  Caldwell,  of  Elizabeth  town, 
Was  shot  by  a  sentinel  who  was  said  to  have  been 
bribed  by  the  British,  or  the  Tories,  to  whom  he  was 
especially  obnoxious.  Moses  Allen,  a  classmate  of 
President  Madison  at  Princeton,  pastor  of  the  Mid- 
way church,  Georgia,  and  chaplain  of  a  regiment,  was 
drowned  near  Savannah,  February  8,'  1779,  in  attempt- 
ing to  Bwim  ashore  from  a  prison-ship,  the  barbarous 
captain  of  which  refused  his  friends  boards  for  his  cof- 
fin. And  not  a  few  others  incurred  hardships  which  in 
all  probability  shortened  their  days.  It  is  certainly 
remarkable,  considering  their  exposure,  and  the  almost 
venomous  hatred  with  which  they  were  regarded  by 
the  enemy,  that  among  the  Presbyterian  ministers  the 
direct  victims  of  the  war  were  so  few. 

There  was  too  much  else  to  engage  public  attention 
to  allow  much  regard  to  be  given  to  the  claims  of  reli- 
gion. The  clash  of  arms  drowned  the  voice  of  the 
preacher,  save  when  it  was  heard  in  camp  during  the 
intervals  of  fight.  Even  there  it  was  sometimes  dis- 
turbed by  the  cannon's  roar  and  the  rolling  drum. 
Academies  and  colleges  were  almost  entirely  deserted. 
The  young  men.  many  of  them,  hurried  away  from  the 
scenes  of  study  to  aid  their  country  on  the  field  of 
battle;   and   sometimes   the   teacher,  like   Daggett,  at 

New  Haven,  or  Smith,  at  Eampden- Sidney,  headed 
his  pupils  in  resistance  to  the  invader.  At  Vale  but  a 
small  number  of  student-  were  left  within  the  college 


196  HISTORY    OF    PRESBYTERIANI6M. 

walls,  and  for  a  time  these  were  removed  to  other 
towns  of  the  State.  James  Latta's  school  at  Chesnut 
Level  was  closed,  for  the  usher  and  the  older  scholars 
had  joined  the  army.  The  operations  of  the  College 
of  New  Jersey  were  suspended,  the  class  of  1778  num- 
bering but  five  students.  The  classical  school  in  Cul- 
pepper county,  Va.,  where  Moses  Hoge  was  pursuing 
his  studies,  was  altogether  broken  up.  Hampden-Sid- 
ney  had  scarcely  a  name  to  live.  James  White  Ste- 
phenson gave  up  his  classical  school  near  the  old  Wax- 
haw  church,  dismissed  his  pupils,1  and  knew  no  other 
life  than  that  of  a  soldier  until  the  return  of  peace. 

In  these  circumstances,  it  is  not  surprising  that  the 
course  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  should  be  retro- 
grade rather  than- on  the  advance.  The  camp,  with  all 
the  safeguards  that  could  be  thrown  around  it,  and 
with  all  the  counteracting  influence  which  the  chap- 
lains could  exert,  was  a  school  of  immorality,  pro- 
fanity, and  vice.  Many  places,  especially  in  Virginia, 
were  sadly  cursed  by  the  disbanded  soldiery.  Civil 
order  was  established  as  yet  on  very  insecure  founda- 
tions. Eeligious  institutions  were  paralyzed  in  their 
influence,  even  where  they  were  still  sustained.  Sab- 
bath desecration  prevailed  to  an  alarming  extent.  Infi- 
delity, in  many  quarters,  soon  acquired  a  foothold.  The 
civil  character  of  the  war,  especially  in  the  Southern 
States,  gave  it  a  peculiar  ferocity,  and  produced  a  licen- 
tiousness of  morals  of  which  there  is  scarce  a  parallel  at 
the  present  day.  Municipal  laws  could  not  be  enforced. 
Civil  government  was  frustrated,  and  society  was  well- 
nigh  resolved  into  its  original  elements. 

Thus  at  the  close  of  the  war  religion  was.  on  every 
side,  in  an  exceedingly  decayed  state.  The  churches 
presented  to  view  a  wide  scene  of  desolation.     That 


1  See  Sprague,  i.  550. 


THE    REV0L1  TIONARY    WAR.  197 

of  Newtown  numbered  but  five  members  al  the  close 
of  the  war;  and  scores  of  others  were  in  an  equally 
Lamentable  coi  dition.  The  stated  ordinances  of  the 
gospel  had  been  discontinued,  and  t lie  young  men  who 
should  have  been  prepared  to  enter  the  ministry  had 
been  constrained  to  abandon  their  purpose. 

The  meetings  of  the  Synod  during  the  period  of  the 
Avar  were  gloomy  and  disheartening.  There  was  but  a 
small  attendance,  and  the  reports  which  were  brought 
by  the  few  who  came,  were  discouraging  in  the  extreme. 
Little  could  l»e  undertaken,  and  less  accomplished.  At 
the  opening  sessions  of  177G  there  were  but  eighteen 
ministers  and  three  elders  present;  in  the  following 
year,  only  twenty-six  ministers.  In  1778,  the  enemy 
had  taken  possession  of  Philadelphia,  and  the  Synod 
was  opened  at  Bedminster  with  eleven  ministers  and 
three  elders.  In  the  following  year  there  were  twenty 
ministers  and  seven  elders,  and  in  1780  only  fifteen 
ministers  and  four  elders,  at  the  opening  sessions. 
Nearly  all  that  could  be  done  was  the  annual  appoint- 
ment, continued  through  the  war,  of  a  day  of  humilia- 
tion, fasting,  and  prayer.  Applications  for  aid  were 
received,  hut  it  was  beyond  the  power  of  Synod  to 
supply  the  demand.  They  came  from  the  North,  the 
South,  and  the  West,  but  the  most  urgent  and  importu- 
nate were  from  Virginia,  where  the  Hanover  Presby- 
tery  found  the  popular  sympathy  turning  strongly  in 
favor  of  Presbyterianism,  and  where  the  opposition  to 
English  tyranny  created  a  prejudice  with  many  against 
the  Episcopal  Church  as  lukewarm  in  a  cause  in  which 
it  must  he  necessarily  divided  against  itself. 

With  the  return  of  peace,  tic  Presbyterian  Church 
began  to  revive.  The  meetings  of  Synod  assumed 
somewhat  of  their  former  aspect.  In  17S0.  it  had  com- 
menced  its  sessions  with  only  fifteen  ministers  and  four 
elders  present,  and  in  1781,  with  only  twenty-one  min- 

17 


198  HISTORY    OF    PRESBYTERIANISM. 

isters  and  four  elders.  In  1783,  there  were  forty-three 
ministers  present  at  the  opening  session;  in  1781, 
thirty;  in  1785,  thirty;  in  1786,  thirty-eight;  and  in 
1787,  under  the  urgent  call  to  consider  the  subject  of 
a  new  organization  of  the  highest  judicature  of  the 
Church,  there  were  fifty-two. 

The  period  of  the  war  had  been  one  of  peculiar 
hardship  to  the  ministers  of  the  Church.  Their  sala- 
ries, paid,  if  at  all,  in  depreciated  currency,  proved  quite 
insufficient,  and  in  1782  their  condition  claimed  the 
attention  of  Synod.  In  1783,  on  the  report  of  a  com- 
mittee appointed  the  previous  year,  a  pastoral  letter 
was  drawn  up  and  printed,  addressed  to  the  congre- 
gations, on  the  subject  of  ministerial  support.  The 
interests  of  religion  were  pronounced  to  be  "in  danger 
of  suffering  greatly,  at  the  present,  from  the  many  dis- 
couragements under  which  the  ministers  of  the  gospel 
labor,  from  the  want  of  a  sufficient  support  and  liberal 
maintenance  from  the  congregations  they  serve." 

The  restoration  of  peace  brought  with  it  the  same 
difficulty  which  had  been  before  experienced  from  the 
immigration  of  foreign  ministers  and  candidates. 
Although  no  longer  so  numerous  as  to  form  a  party  in 
the  Church,  some  of  them  were  regarded  with  well- 
grounded  suspicion.  Applications  to  Synod  to  receive 
or  ordain  men  of  this  class  were  becoming  frequent, 
and  in  1784  the  members  of  the  several  Presbyteries 
were  enjoined  "  to  be  particularly  careful"  in  view  of 
"  imminent  danger  from  ministers  and  licensed  candi- 
dates of  unsound  principles  coming  among  us."  In  the 
following  year  the  question  of  relaxing  the  terms  of 
literary  qualification  in  candidates  for  the  ministry  was 
brought  up.  By  a  great  majority  it  was  carried  in  the 
negative.  It  was  also  proposed  that  the  term  of  stud}-- 
ing  divinity  should  hereafter  be  two  years  instead  of 
one;  but  action  upon  it  was  deferred  to  the  next  meet- 


TIIK    REVOLUTIONARY    WAR.  199 

ing,  when,in  the  press  of  other  matters,  it  was  crowded 
out. 

The  subject  of  procuring  Bibles  for  distribution  among 
the  poor,  especially  on  the  frontiers,  by  means  of  collec- 
tions in  the  churches,  was  brought  up  in  1783.  The 
Synod  recommended  that  collections  should  be  made; 
but  the  recommendation  was  complied  with  in  only  a 
few  instances,  and  was  renewed  again  in  1785.  The 
neglect  was  due  in  part  to  the  exhausted  and  impove- 
rished condition  of  the  country  at  large,  and  in  part  to 
the  absence  of  members  and  even  of  whole  Presby- 
teries. To  such  an  extent  had  this  latter  evil  grown, 
that  a  letter  was  addressed  to  the  Presbyteries  of  Han- 
over, Orange,  Dutchess,  and  Suffolk,  urging  attention 
to  the  subject,  and  kindly  remonstrating  with  them  for 
a  neglect  which  might  tend  to  "the  great  injury,  if  not 
the  entire  mouldering  away,  of  the  body." 

The  purport  of  the  letter  seems  to  have  been  misap- 
prehended by  the  Suffolk  Presbytery.  Several  of  its 
ministers  were  originally  Congregationalists,  and  quite 
a  large  proportion  of  the  people  were  descendants  of 
New  England  settlers.  They  seem  also  to  have  been 
disturbed  by  the  proposal,  already  agitated,  for  a  new 
form  of  government  and  discipline.  Not  a  member  of 
the  body  appeared  in  Synod  the  following  year;  but  in 
1787  a  letter  was  received  from  them,  addressed  to  the 
moderator  of  the  Synod,  praying  that  their  union  with 
the  body  might  be  dissolved.  Dr.  McWhorter  was  di- 
rected to  prepare  a  reply.  It  was  kindly  worded,  and 
was  intended  to  meet  their  objections  of  "local  situa- 
tion." non-concurrence  "  with  the  draught  of  the  form  of 
government,"  and  non-compliance  of  the  churches  within 
their  limits.  As  to  the  first  of  these,  it  had  always  been 
the  same.  In  regard  to  the  second,  the  "draught  was 
submitted  for  overture  and  amendment;"  while  the 
indisposition  of  the  churches   to  comply  might  be  the 


200  HISTORY    OF    PRESBTTERIANISM. 

result  of  groundless  prejudices,  hastily  imbibed, — pre- 
judices "which,  by  taking  some  pains  and  by  giving  a, 
proper  explanation  of  the  matter,  might  be  readily 
removed." 

To  enforce  the  arguments  for  a  reconsideration  of 
its  resolution  by  the  Presbytery,  Drs.  McWhorter  and 
Eodgers,  and  Messrs.  Eoe,  Woodhull,  and  Davenport, 
were  appointed  a  committee  to  meet  and  converse 
with  them.  The  result  of  the  conference  was  that  the 
Presbytery  withdrew  their  petition,  and  were  prepared 
in  the  following  year  to  enter  with  the  other  Presby- 
teries as  constituent  elements  of  the  newly-organized 
Assembly. 

The  spirit  of  this  proceeding  is  indicative  of  the 
tolerant  temper  of  the  Church.  This  temper  had  not 
changed.  The  annual  convention  of  Congregationalists 
and  Presbyterians  had  been  dropped  from  necessity  at 
the.  commencement  of  the  Eevolutionary  conflict,  but 
the  spirit  in  which  it  had  originated  still  survived. 

Nor  was  the  Synod  neglectful  of  its  position  as  the 
advocate  of  civil  and  religious  freedom.  Scarcely  had 
the  war  closed,  when  rumors  were  afloat  in  some  quar- 
ters which  seemed  to  intimate  the  purpose  of  the  Pres- 
byterian Church  to  seek  an  alliance  with  the  state.  It 
occupied,  indeed,  a  highly  respectable  position.  Its 
ministers  had  been  chaplains  in  the  army.  Its  leading 
man,  Dr.  WithersjDOon,  had  been  a  leader  in  the  Gene- 
ral Congress.  It  was,  in  fact,  the  only  denomination 
which,  from  position  and  influence,  could  be  considered 
in  the  light  of  a  candidate  for  the  special  favors  of  the 
state.  But  any  charge  of  seeking  such  favor  on  its 
part  was  utterly  ungrounded.  The  Synod  scarcely 
deemed  it  necessary  to  make  a  disavowal  of  it;  but 
some  of  its  members  insisted  on  the  necessity  of  such 
a  disavowal.  In  consequence,  a  minute  was  adopted 
by  the  Synod  of  1781,  which  the  next  Synod  ordered 


TUT.    REVOLUTIONARY    WAR.  201 

to  be  expunged.  Bui  in  1783,  on  the  principle  that  no 
minute  in  any  instance  Bhould  be  expunged,  it  was 
ordered  to  be  restored.  It  was  to  the  effect  that  it 
had  been  represented  to  Synod  thai  the  Presbyterian 
Church  Buffers  greatly  in  the  opinion  of  other  denomi- 
nations, from  an  apprehension  that  they  hold  intole- 
rant principles;  and  in  view  of  this  -lthe  Synod  do 
solemnly  and  publicly  declare  that  they  ever  have,  and 
still  do,  renounce  and  abhor  the  principles  of  intole- 
rance, and  we  do  believe  thai  every  peaceable  member 
of  civil  society  ought  to  be  protected  in  the  full  and 
free  exercise  of  their  religion." 

Nor  did  the  Synod  overlook  the  subject  of  civil  free- 
dom, at  least  in  its  moral  aspect.  Upon  a  review  of 
the  Minutes  in  1780,  it  appeared  that  "an  affair  respect- 
ing the  enslaving  of  negroes"  had  been  before  the 
Synod  of  1774.  Ity  succeeding  Synods  it  had,  "  by 
some  means,  been  passed  over."  It  was  now  discussed, 
but  without  definite  action.  In  1787,  however,  it  was 
declared  that  "  the  Synod  of  New  York  and  Philadel- 
phia do  highly  approve  of  the  general  principles  in 
favor  of  universal  liberty  that  prevail  in  America,  and 
of  the  interest  which  many  of  the  States  have  taken 
in  promoting  the  abolition  of  slavery )  yet,  inasmuch 
as  men,  introduced  from  a  servile  state  to  a  partici- 
pation of  all  the  privileges  of  civil  society,  without  a 
proper  education,  and  without  previous  habits  of  indus- 
try, may  be,  in  some  respects,  dangerous  to  the  com- 
munity; therefore  they  earnestly  recommend  it  to  all 
the  members  belonging  to  their  communion  to  give 
those  persons,  who  are  at  present  held  in  servitude, 
such    good    education     as    may    prepare     them    for    the 

better  enjoyment  of  freedom.  And  they  moreover 
recommend  that  masters,  whenever  they  find  servants 
disposed  to  make  a  proper  improvement  of  the  privi- 
lege, would  give  them  some  share  of  property  to  begin 


202  HISTORY    OF    PRESBYTERIANISM. 

with,  or  grant  them  sufficient  time  and  sufficient 
means  of  procuring,  by  industry,  their  own  liberty,  at 
a  moderate  rate,  that  they  may  thereby  be  brought 
into  society  with  those  habits  of  industry  that  may 
render  them  useful  citizens;  and,  finally,  they  recom- 
mend it  to  all  the  people  under  their  care,  to  use  the 
most  prudent  measures  consistent  with  the  interest 
and  the  state  of  civil  society  in  the  parts  where  they 
live,  to  procure  eventually  the  final  abolition  of  slavery 
in  America." 

So  important  did  this  utterance  afterward  appear, 
that  by  the  Assembly  of  1793  it  was  ordered  to  be 
republished  in  the  extracts  from  the  Minutes,  thus 
receiving  the  authoritative  re-endorsement  of  the  Pres- 
byterian Church. 

The  plan  of  union  between  the  Synod  and  the  Asso- 
ciate Presbyterian  Church  had  proved  a  failure.  The 
letter  of  1769  put  an  end  to  any  hopes  of  it  which 
might  before  have  been  entertained.  But,  in  1784,  a 
plan  of  correspondence  between  the  Synod  and  the  two 
Synods  of  the  Eeformed  Dutch  and  Associate  Presby- 
terian Churches  was  discussed,  and  measures  taken  for 
rendering  it  effective.  The  desire  was  expressed  by 
members  of  those  bodies  in  favor  of  "  a  friendly  inter- 
course between  the  three  Synods,  or  laying  a  plan  for 
some  kind  of  union  among  them,  whereby  they  might 
be  enabled  to  unite  their  interests  and  combine  their 
efforts;''  and  by  these  members  some  such  measure  was 
pronounced  to  be  practicable.  A  committee,  therefore, 
was  appointed  to  meet  with  corresponding  committees 
from  the  other  Synods,  to  consider  what  plan  could  be 
devised.  The  convention  met  at  New  York  in  1785, 
and  gave  to  the  subject  their  deliberate  attention. 
There  seemed  to  be  on  the  part  of  the  committees 
from  the  other  Synods  a  jealousy  in  regard  to  the 
soundness  and  rigid  discipline  of  the  Synod  of  New  York 


THE    REVOLUTIONARY    WAR.  203 

and  Philadelphia.  The  question  was  raised  in  regard 
to  its  standards  and  the  manner  in  which  they  were  bo 
be   regarded  and  adopted.     Although  the  convention 

assumed  only  the  powers  of  counsel  and  advice,  sug- 
gestions were  made  and  measures  adopted  to  secure 
mutual  harmony  between  the  different  bodies  In  the 
following  year  the  committee  asked  of  the  Synod  more 
definite  instructions  in  regard  to  some  points  on  which 
they  had  been  unable  to  give  entire  satisfaction.  In 
view  of  the  meditated  change  in  the  constitution  of 
the  form  of  government,  it  was  decided  that  "the 
mutual  assurances  mentioned  in  the  Minutes  of  the  last 
convention  may  be  made  with  much  more  propriety 
after  the  intended  system  is  finished  than  at  present." 
The  conventions  continued  to  be  held  annually  for 
several  years,  and  committees  were  appointed  for  the 
purpose  at  each  meeting  of  Synod. 

The  rapid  extension  of  the  Presbyterian  Church 
after  the  paralyzing  effect  of  the  Revolutionary  con- 
flict had  begun  to  pass  away,  directed  attention  toward 
measures  for  perfecting  its  organization,  as  well  as 
putting  forth  a  full  declaration  of  its  principles.  The 
separation  of  the  colonies  from  the  mother-country 
required  a  corresponding  change  in  that  part  of  the 
Confession  which  referred  to  civil  government.  It 
wafi  evident  that  the  future  policy  of  the  Church  must 
now  be  initiated;  and  the  project  was  entertained  of  a 
division  of  the  Synod  and  the  formation  of  a  General 
Assembly.  Unless  some  such  measure  should  be 
speedily  adopted.it  was  feared  that  the  body  which 
hitherto  had  been  the  supreme  judicature  of  the 
Church  would  become  too  large  and  unwieldy  to 
perform  its  duties  with  efficiency  and  vigor,  or  that 
"the  attendance  of  members  would  fall  into  Qeglect." 

As  early  as  the  annual  meeting  of  the  Synod  in 
May.  17s">.  a  committee  was  appointed  to  prepare  the 


204  HISTORY    OF    PRESBYTERIANISM. 

form  of  a  Constitution  for  the  Church,  to  be  submitted 
to  the  Synod  of  the  following  year.  Their  report  was 
duly  made  in  1780,  and  referred  to  another  committee 
to  meet  in  the  autumn  of  that  year,  with  powers  to 
digest  a  Constitution  for  the  Presbyterian  Church,  to 
print  it,  and  send  copies  of  it,  to  each  of  the  Presbyte- 
ries. These  again  were  to  report  their  judgment  of 
the  same,  in  writing,  at  the  Synod  of  1787.  These 
reports  were  made,  and  the  Synod,  after  reading  and 
considering  the  draught  of  the  preceding  year,  and 
availing  itself  of  the  written  suggestions  of  the  Pres- 
byteries, issued  another  pamphlet,  more  complete  than 
that  of  the  committee,  and  ordered  a  thousand  copies 
to  be  distributed  to  the  several  Presbyteries.  The 
system  thus  presented  formed  the  basis  of  the  deli- 
berations of  the  Synod  of  1788,  which  issued  in  the 
formation  and  publication  of  the  Constitution  of  the 
Church.  The  full  title  of  the  volume  issued  is,  "  The 
Constitution  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  in  the  United 
States  of  America  :  containing  the  Confession  of  Faith, 
the  Catechisms,  the  Government  and  Discipline,  and 
the  Directory  for  the  Worship  of  God,  ratified  and 
adopted  by  the  Synod  of  New  York  and  Philadelphia, 
May  the  16th,  1788,  and  continued  by  adjournment 
until  the  twenty-eighth  of  the  same  month.  Philadel- 
phia. Printed  by  Thomas  Bradford,  md.cclxxxix."1 

In  the  discussions  which  preceded  the  final  adoption 
of  the  Constitution,  the  question  was  raised,  "  Shall 
the  Supreme  Judicatory  be  denominated  a  General 
Council  or  a  General  Assembly  ?"  The  question  was, 
indeed,  one  only  of  name;  for  in  either  case  the  body 
would  be  possessed  of  the  same  powers.  But  the  very 
fact  that  it  was  agitated,  and  that  Dr.  Witherspoon 

1 1  transcribe  the  title-page  of  the  only  copy  of  the  work  which  I 
have  met,  now  in  my  possession. 


the  revolutionary   war.  205 

himself  voted  in  favor  of  "Council,"  shows  thai  the 
body  did  qo1  feel  themselves  bound  to  any  rigid  adop- 
tion of  the  Scot tisli  model. 

In  the  Confession  of  Faith  no  alteration  was  made, 
excepl  in  the  pari  treating  of  civil  government  and  the 
civil  magistrate.  Instead  of  giving  the  Latter,  as  in 
Scotland,  the  power  to  call  and  supervise  Synods,  it 
declared  it  the  duty  of  civil  magistrates  "  to  protect  the 
Church  of  our  common  Lord,  without  giving  pre- 
ference to  one  denomination  of  Christians  above  the 
rest,  in  such  a  manner  that  all  ecclesiastical  persona 
whatever  shall  enjoy  the  full,  free,  and  unquestioned 
liberty  of  discharging  every  part  of  their  sacred  func- 
tions, without  violence  or  danger." 

Some  minor  changes  were  made,  hut  all  of  a  similar 
import. 

The  vote  on  the  adoption  of  the  Catechisms  of  the 
Church  excited  no  debate.  They  do  not  appear  to 
have  been  even  read  over,  with  a  view  to  adoption 
seriatim.  No  alteration  had  been  proposed  in  relation 
to  them,  until,  just  at  the  moment  when  the  vote  was 
to  be  taken,  Rev.  Jacob  Ker,  of  Delaware,  arrested  the 
proceedings  by  calling  attention  to  a  clause  of  the 
Larger  Catechism  in  answer  to  the  question,  "Which 
are  the  sins  forbidden  in  the  second  commandment?" 
He  stated  that  the  Catechism,  as  it  then  stood,  speci- 
fied, among  the  sins  forbidden,  "tolerating  a  false  reli- 
gion ;"  and  he  made  a  motion  that  the  clause  bo 
stricken  out.  The  motion  was  carried  without  debate, 
ami  the  Catechisms  of  the  Church  were  then  adopted 
without  further  alteration. 

In  the  adoption  of  the  Directory  for  Worship,  the 
forms  of  prayer  therein  introduced  were  stricken  out, 
and  the  subjects  were  presented  in  a  doctrinal  form. 
WluMi  this  had  been  done,  the  Constitution  of  the 
Church  stood  forth  complete.     For  three  years  it  had 

Vui..  I.— IS 


206  HISTORY   OF    PRESBYTERIANISM. 

been  under  consideration.  Eepeated  draughts  of  it 
had  been  made,  and  the  widest  publicity  had  been 
given  them.  The  object  was  twofold, — to  perfect  the 
instrument  and  to  obviate  future  objection.  Even  yet 
entire  cordiality  of  sentiment  was  not  effected.  There 
was  at  least  "  a  small  minority"  whose  leanings  were 
toward  a  more  liberal  and  less  rigid  system.  One 
clergyman,  a  member  of  both  the  committees  for  pre- 
paring the  draughts,  but  kept  at  home  by  indispo- 
sition, addressed  a  letter  to  the  adopting  Synod, 
strongly  objecting  against  a  high-toned  Presbyterian 
system  :  yet  the  vote  on  the  Adopting  Act  was  nearly, 
if  not  quite,  unanimous. 

Although  the  Scottish  Confession  had  been  adopted 
by  so  strong  and  decisive  a  vote,  it  was  not  in  the 
spirit  of  a  rigid  ecclesiasticism.1  The  highest  judica- 
ture was  an  "Assembly/'  and  not  a  "Council;"  but  it 
began  its  existence  by  acts  which  indicated  that  none 
of  the  exclusiveness  of  the  Scotch  National  Church 
had  been  allowed  a  triumph  in  the  selection  of  a  name. 
Dr.  Witherspoon  opened  the  Assembly  of  1790,  by 
appointment,  and  Dr.  John  Eodgers — on  whose  motion 
a  few  years  later  the  delegates  of  the  Connecticut 
and  other  General  Associations  were  allowed  to  vote 
as  well  as  speak  in  the  Assembly — wTas  chosen  the  first 
moderator.  In  the  very  next  year,  on  motion  of  Dr 
Ashbel  Green,  arrangements  wTere  made  for  a  plan  of 

1  Quite  a  number  of  the  leading  ministers  of  the  Church  might 
be  mentioned  who  had  decided  leanings  toward  a  liberal  construc- 
tion of  Presbyterian  formulas.  For  instance,  Henry  Patillo,  the 
patriarch  of  the  Church  in  North  Carolina,  says,  at  this  very  time, 
"I  have  often  thought  that  the  popular  congregational  government 
of  the  Independents,  joined  to  the  Presbyterial  judicatures  as  a 
final  resort,  would  form  the  mest  perfect  model  of  church  govern- 
ment that  the  state  of  things  will  admit  of.'' — Palillo's  Sermons, 
Wilmington,  N.C.,  1788. 


ill  I :    ASSOCIATED    PRESBYTERIES,     1779-1818:  207 

intercourse  between  the  Assembly  and  tin-  New  Eng- 
land churches.  "  1  am  responsible,"  says  Dr.  Green, 
in  his  autobiography,  ••  for  the  correspondence  between 
them  and  us." 


CHAPTER   XI. 

THE    ASSOCIATED    PRESBYTERIES,     1779-1818 

Just  ten  years  before  the  meeting  of  the  first  Gene- 
ral Assembly,  a  secession  took  plaee  from  the  Presby- 
tery of  New  York,  which  deserves  at  least  a  passing 
notice  in  the  history  of  the  Church.  It  was  based 
mainly  on  the  principle  of  the  independency  of  the 
local  church  j  although  conjoined  with  this  was  the 
assumption  that  the  power  of  ordination  was  vested 
not  in  the  church,  but  in  the  Presbytery.1 

The  originator  of  the  movement  was  Jacob  Green.2 
from  1740  to  1790  the  pastor  of  the  Presbyterian 
church  of  Hanover,  New  Jersey.  He  was  a  native  of 
Maiden.  Mass.,  and  a  graduate  of  Harvard  College  in 
1744.  Although  he  had  cherished  a  Christian  hope,  he 
was  led  to  abandon  it  on  listening  to  the  sermons 
of  Whitefield  (September,  1740),  and  especially  to  a 
powerful  one  by  Gilbert  Tennent  in  January,  1741. 
Eis  mental  exercises  were  of  a  most  humbling  nature. 
He  was  bowed  to  the  dust  under  the  deep  sense  of 

1  This  account  is  largely  derived  from  a  manuscript  "  History  of 
the  Secession  from  the  Synod  of  New  York  and  Philadelphia  in 
1780,  which  assumed  the  name  of  'The  Ass  dated  Presbytery  of 
Mrniis  County.'  "     By  Rev.  Dr.  N.  S.  Prime. 

-  Father  of  Rev.  Dr.  Ashbel  Green. 


208  HISTORY    OF    PRESBYTERIANISM. 

his  imworthiness,  and  extracts  from  his  diary  show 
how  thorough  must  have  been  the  work  of  his  con- 
viction. 

After  teaching  for  about  a  year,  subsequent  to  his 
leaving  college,  he  met  again  with  Whitefield,  who 
engaged  him  to  go  to  Georgia  to  take  charge  of 
the  Orphan-House.  On  reaching  New  Jersey,  he 
learned  from  him  that  he  had  just  received  informa- 
tion which  rendered  it  impracticable  to  assure  Mr. 
Green  of  permanent  employment.  He  offered,  however, 
to  employ  him  for  six  months,  or  refund  to  him  the 
expense  that  he  had  already  incurred.  By  the  advice 
of  Dickinson  and  Burr,  he  chose  the  latter  alternative, 
with  a  view  to  labor  as  a  minister  within  the  bounds 
of  the  Presbytery.  In  September,  1745,  he  was  licensed 
by  the  Presb3Ttery  of  New  York,  and  almost  imme- 
diately was  invited  to  preach  at  Hanover,  where,  in 
November  of  the  following  year,  he  was  regularly 
ordained  and  installed  pastor. 

After  more  than  thirty  years'  experience  of  the  Pres- 
byterian system,  he  deliberately  resolved  to  withdraw 
from  his  connection  with  it.  He  did  not  object  to  its 
doctrines.1  He  made  no  complaint  of  his  brethren  in 
the  Presbytery,  for  -whom  generally  he  expressed  his 
high  esteem  as  "  worthy  and  excellent  ministers  of 
the  gospel."      His  exceptions  were  directed  against  the 

1  Although  this  was  the  case,  yet  his  views  of  the  Abrahamic 
covenant,  baptism,  and  kindred  subjects^were  such  as,  through  his 
published  discourses,  to  bring  him  into  controversy  with  some  of 
the  New  England  ministers.  Shortly  after  the  re-union  (1758),  he 
avowed  himself,  in  his  published  work  on  Baptism,  an  Fdwardict)if— 
representing  Stoddard  and  Edwards  as  the  leading  exponents  of 
conflicting  views.  It  is  altogether  probable  that  his  strong  New- 
side  sympathies  led  him  to  regard  the  union  with  the  Old  side  as 
quite  objectionable,  and  strengthened  his  purpose  to  withdraw  from 
Synod.  He  is  the  first  minister  in  this  country — so  far  as  I  am 
aware — who  publicly  declared  himself  an  "Edwardian." 


THE   ASSOCIATED    PRESBYTERIES,     1779-1818.  209 

exercise  of  power  by  the  Synod,  according  to  "the 
Directory  of  Church  Government  authorized  by  the 
General  Assembly  of  the  Church  of  Scotland."  "They 
assumed,"  he  said.  "  the  authoritative  enacting  style  in 

their  Minutes,  appointing  and  requiring,  instead  of  re- 
commending and  desiring."  They  moreover  assumed 
a  " legislative  power,"  "appointed  ministers  and  can- 
didates to  travel  to  distant  parts,  .supply  vacancies, 
&c," — had  ••  ordered — not  desired — conl  ributions," — had 
claimed  a  power  to  liberate  ministers  from  their  peo- 
ple,  again  si    the  will  of  the  latter. — as.  for  instance, 

several  presidents  for  the  college"  They  had  re- 
quired candidates  to  study  a  year  after  taking  their 
degree, — had  ordered  licentiates  to  write  their  notes  at 
large  and  show  them  to  some  minister, — had  enjoined 
the  keeping  of  registers  of  births,  baptisms,  marriages, 
and  burials, — had  also  enjoined  ministers  riot  to  use 
notes  in  preaching;  and,  in  the  union  of  the  two  Sy- 
nods, the  Westminster  Confession,  "  without  any  liberty 
for  explanation  in  any  article,  was  enjoined  upon  all 
their  ministers,  who  were  to  teach  and  preach  accord- 
ingly" 

Some  of  these  orders  and  injunctions  were  undoubt- 
edly regarded  by  Mr.  Cireen  in  the  light  of  personal 
grievances.  He  was  licensed  without  the  year  of 
study  required  after  graduation.  After  the  New  England 
manner,  he  doubtless  preferred  the  use  of  "notes." 
Collections  in  his  congregation  he  would  rather  have 
"desired"  than  "ordered;"  and  his  liberal  sympathies 
revolted  at  the  rigidity  of  the  "  Scotch  system."  But 
he  greatly  mistook,  either  through  prejudice  or  inad- 
vertence, when  he  assumed  that  the  k-  Scotch  system" 
was  in  force;  and  quite  a  large  amount  of  his  repug- 
nance might  have  been  overcome  if  he  had  known  or 
remembered  that  provision  had  been  made  for  the 
"scruples"    of    the    candidate,   and    that   he   was   to   bo 

IS* 


210  HISTORY    OF    PRESBYTERIANISM, 

admitted  by  the  Synod  or  Presbytery,  unless  bis  scru- 
ple or  mistake  concerned  some  "  essential  and  neces- 
sary" doctrine.  In  justice  to  himself,  moreover,  he 
should  have  stated  that  the  injunction  not  to  use  notes 
was  materially  qualified  by  the  clause  which  left  it  to 
the  "  convenience"  of  the  minister. 

But  he  had  taken  his  position,  and,  in  spite  of  the 
kind  remonstrances  of  the  Presbytery,  he  was  not  dis- 
posed to  recede  from  it.  He  insisted  upon  his  right 
quietly  and  peaceably  to  withdraw,  cherishing  the 
kindest  feelings  toward  his  ministerial  associates,  and 
uniting  with  them  still  in  ministerial  communion,  or 
sitting,  if  desired,  as  a  corresponding  member  of  the 
Presbytery.  Of  his  two  congregations,  one  (Hanover 
Neck)  chose  still  to  remain  under  the  care  of  the  Pres- 
bytery, retaining  him  as  their  pastor;  and  to  this  the 
Presbytery  made  no  objection. 

At  the  same  time  (October,  1779)  that  Mr.  Green 
thus  requested  the  privilege  of  quietly  withdrawing 
from  Presbyterial  connection,  Joseph  Grover,1  reported 
in  1774  as  a  licensed  candidate  from  New  England,  and 
who  since  that  time  had  been  settled  at  Parsippany, 
sent  in  to  the  Presbytery  a  paper  declaratory  of  his 
"  quiet  withdrawal."  He  had  been  surprised  to  find, 
after  his  settlement,  that  he  was  viewed  as  a  member 
of  Synod,  and  when  "  lately  admonished  by  the  Synod 
for  not  attending  Synodical  meetings,"  he  appears  to 
have  felt  that  his  ecclesiastical  freedom  was  infringed 
upon,  and,  consequently,  chose  to  seek  release  from  a 
body  with  which  he  did  not  suppose  himself  to  have 
entered  into  connection. 

At  the  May  meeting  of  the  Presbytery,  Amzi  Lewis, 
pastor  (from  1772)  of  the  churches  of  Florida  and 
Warwick,  X.Y.,  "  entered  a  declinature"  which,  at  his 

1  Erroneously  said  to  have  been  a  graduate  of  Yale  College. 


THE   ASSOCIATED    PRESBYTERIES,   1779  1518.  211 

request,  was  returned  to  him,  when  he  declared  "  that 
he  peaceably  withdrew  from  the  Presbytery, and  chose 
bo  longer  to  be  considered  as  a  member  of  the  same." 
At  the  same  time,  Ebenezer  Bradford,  a  graduate  of 
Princeton  in  177o.  and  from  July  14.  1 7 7 -"> .  pastor  of 
the  church  of  South  Hanover,1  "gave  in  a  declinature, 
whereby  he  withdrew  from  the  Synod  and  this  (New 
York)  Presbytery."  Efforts  were  made  to  induce  the 
Beceding  brethren  to  retrace  their  steps,  but  they 
proved  futile.  The  churches  were  regarded  still  as 
under  the  care  of  the  Presbytery,  and  measures  were 
taken  to  bring  before  them  the  question  of  their  future 
ecclesiastical  connection.  Hanover  Neck  and  South 
Hanover  seem  alone  to  have  been  disposed  to  remain 
in  their  former  ecclesiastical  relations. 

This  was  the  entire  extent  of  the  original  secession.2 
Of  the  four  ministers  who  withdrew,  all  but  Mr.  Green 
were  young  men,  with  brief  experience  in  the  ministry, 
and  all  of  them,  with  the  single  exception  of  Mr.  Brad- 
ford, were  from  New  England,  while  Mr.  Bradford 
was  the  son-in-law  of  Mr.  Green.  They  withdrew,  to 
the  regret  of  the  Presbytery,  by  whom  they  were 
esteemed  and  respected,  and  that  esteem  and  respect 
were  largely  reciprocated.  To  the  last  appeal  of  the 
Presbytery,  the  seceding  brethren  returned  a  kind 
reply,  in  which  they  stated  that  they  had  formed  them- 
selves into  a  Presbytery,  and  had  "no  inclination  to 
dissolve  the  voluntary  connection  into  which  they  had 

1  Subsequently  known  as  Bottle  Hill,  now  Madison. 

2  So  it  would  appeal-  from  Dr.  N.  8.  Prime's  manuscript  "  History 
of  the  Associated  Presbyteries."  But  several  years  previous  to  tbe 
organization  of  the  Morris  County  Presbytery,  at  least  in  1709  or 
177<>,  Abner  Reeve,  of  Blooming  Grove,  N.Y.,  Moses  Tuttle,  of  New 
York  Presbytery,  and  Mr.  Dorbe,  of  Parsippany.  declared  in  favor  of 
Independency,  and  withdrew  from  Synod  and  Presbytery. —  Webstert 
GG8-9. 


212  HISTORY    OF    TRESBYTERIAXISM. 

entered,  or  cease  to  be  a  distinct  Presbytery."  A  small 
body  like  their  own  they  considered  better  adapted  to 
transact  business  "  with  ease  and  advantage,"  and  more 
likely  to  prove  harmonious.  Nor  was  this  all.  "  We 
think  you  have,"  said  they,  "  such  notions  of  Presby- 
terial  power  and  church  government,  as  are  not  agree- 
able to  our  free  sentiments." 

The  "distinct  Presbytery"  whose  existence  was  thus 
announced  was  formed  at  Hanover,  May  3, 1780.  The 
four  seceding  ministers  united  themselves  in  "a  volun- 
tary society  for  promoting  the  interests  of  religion," 
and,  as  they  considered  themselves  "  Presbyterians,  in 
a  scriptural  sense/'  they  agreed  to  call  themselves,  and 
to  be  known  by  the  name  of,  "  The  Presbytery  of 
Morris  county."  To  this,  at  a  subsequent  date,  they 
saw  fit  to  prefix  the  term  "Associated;"  and  with  this 
qualification  of  the  title  they  wrere  subsequently  knowrn. 

Their  platform  was  Presbyterian  in  form,  but  Congre- 
gational in  fact.  The  ministers  were  to  meet  as  a 
Presbytery  ordinarily  twice  a  year;  each  church  was 
authorized  to  send  two  elders  or  lay  delegates;  all 
jurisdiction  over  the  churches  was  disclaimed,  except 
so  far  as  they  should  apply  for  advice  or  assistance; 
and  no  "rules"  should  be  made  "  authoritative,"  while 
all  agreements  should  be  alterable,  as  circumstances 
should  require. 

In  1781,  the  Presbytery  published  a  duodecimo  of 
Beventy  pages,  presenting  "A  View  of  a  Christian 
Church  and  Church  Government."  with  an  appendix, 
representing  the  case  and  circumstances  of  the  Asso- 
ciated Presbytery.  The  preface  discusses  the  question, 
whether  Christ  has  instituted  or  appointed  any  par- 
ticular form  or  mode  of  church  government.  The  six 
sections  of  the  body  of  the  work  are  devoted  to  dis- 
countenancing the  idea  of  a  "provincial"  Church  ;  pre- 
senting a  sound  definition  of  the  "particular"  or  local 


213 

Church;  vindicating  ministers  and  elders,  whose  offices 
are  regarded  as  identical,  together  with  deacons  and 
evangelists,  as  permanenl  officers  of  the  Church;  claim- 
ing that  admonition  and  excommunication  are  the  only 

censures  of  the  Church,  from  which  in  no  case  is  there 
to  be  any  appeal j  rejecting  all  ecclesiastical  authority 
of  Presbyteries  and  Synods,  and  giving  the  preference 
to  pro  re  nata  councils.  Certain  questions  of  casuistry, 
raised  by  the  discussion  of  their  peculiar  principles, 
are  taken  up  and  decided  in  the  closing  section. 

In  the  appendix  is  found  a  reply  to  the  proposal  of 
the  Presbytery  of  New  York,  that  the  seceding  mem- 
bers should  reconsider  their  declinature  and  become 
again  members  of  the  Synod.  This  they  are  willing  to 
do  on  three  conditions,  that  they  remain  a  distinct  body, 
which  is  their  choice, — that  they  meet  in  Synod  as  a 
voluntary  society,  to  consult  and  promote  the  interests 
of  religion, — and  that  they  shall  have  "an  unrestrained 
liberty  to  license  and  ordain  for  the  gospel  ministry 
any  persons  whom  they  shall  think  proper." 

The  last  of  these  conditions  was,  for  the  Associated 
Presbytery,  a  vital  one.1  But  the  liberty  it  claimed 
had  been  exercised  more  than  forty  years  before,  in  a 
manner  which  no  Presbytery  or  Synod  at  this  juncture 
would  be  disposed  to  endorse.     The  reply  of  the  se- 

1  Webster  states  that  Mr.  Green,  previous  to  his  withdrawing  from 
the  Presbytery,  had  grown  "dissatisfied  with  the  hindrances  in  the 
way  of  supplying  our  vacancies:  'first  we  make  them  gentlemen, 
and  then  ministers.'  He  proposed  to  Bellamy  to  establish  two 
schools,  one  in  New  Jersey  and  one  in  Connecticut,  for  educating 
men  up  to  a  certain  point  in  languages  and  philosophy,  and  then 
licensing  them.  He  "wished  to  imitate  the  Baptist  way,  that  our 
growing  country  might  not  be  left  unblessed  with  sound  doctrine 
and  firm  discipline."  He  is  said  to  have  disliked  the  Congregation- 
alism of  New  England  as  much  as  the  Scotch  type  of  Presbyterian* 
ism.— Web*tert  628-9. 


214  HISTORY    OF    PRESBYTERIANISM. 

ceders  was,  therefore,  equivalent  to  a  final  refusal  to 
return.  It  was  soon  manifest  that,  so  far  from  this, 
they  anticipated  an  increase  which  would  distance 
competition  on  the  part  of  those  from  whom  they  had 
withdrawn.  They  proceeded  immediately  to  the  prose- 
cution of  their  favorite  scheme,  introducing  into  the 
ministry  a  number  of  men  of  limited  qualifications. 
Yet  they  were  far  from  denying  the  importance  of 
proper  education,  and,  in  order  to  secure  for  their  can- 
didates some  special  privileges  for  instruction,  insti- 
tuted a  society,  and  by  contributions,  bequests,  &c, 
collected  a  fund,  for  the  management  of  which  they 
obtained  from  the  New  Jersey  Legislature,  May  30, 
1787,  an  act  of  incorporation.  The  style  of  the  corpo- 
ration was,  "  The  Trustees  of  the  Society  in  Morris 
county,  instituted  for  the  promotion  of  learning  and 
religion ;"  and  among  the  names  of  the  trustees,  along 
with  those  of  laymen  and  those  of  the  seceding  minis- 
ters, was  that  of  Jedediah  Chapman,  of  Orange,  a  mem- 
ber of  New  York  Presbytery,1  although  a  native  of 
.Connecticut. 

In  the  course  of  ten  or  twelve  years,  the  new  Pres- 
bytery had  become  greatly  enlarged.  Its  most  con- 
siderable growth  was,  as  might  have  been  expected,  in 
a  region  where  it  was  assured  of  Congregational  sym- 
pathy. The  counties  of  Dutchess  and  Westchester, 
N.Y.,  lying  along  the  New  England  line,  afforded  the 
most  inviting  field  for  its  efforts.  Here  were  already 
several  churches,  which,  by  local  proximity  and  eccle- 
siastical sympathy,  were  predisposed  to  favor  such  a 
system  as  that  of  the  Associated  Presbytery.  Here, 
also,  after  the  close  of  the  war.  new  and  feeble  congre- 


1  The  fact  may  be  taken  either  as  an  indication  of  the  individual 
Bympathies  of  Mr.  Chapman,  or  of  the  mutual  kind  feeling  between 
New  York  Presbytery  and  the  Seceders. 


THE    ASSOCIATE.)    PRESBYTERIES,    1779-1818.  ^15 

gationa  were  in  the  process  of  being  gathered,  and  the 
licentiates  of  the  Presbytery  would  naturally  seek-  in 
this  field  places  of  Labor.  In  this  quarter,  therefore, 
the  new  organization  received  the  Largest  accessions. 
Indeed,  there  is  no  evidence  thai  a  single  church  united 
with  them  west  of  the  Hudson  and  north  of  the  New 
Jersey  line. 

At  a  mooting  of  the  Associated  Presbytery  in  Oc- 
tober, 1701,  itrwas  deemed  expedient  that  a  now  asso- 
ciation should  be  formed,  to  embrace  the  churches  of 
Westchester  county  and  vicinity.  Accordingly,  in  Janu- 
ary, 1792,  a  meeting  was  held,  at  which  a  body  was 
organized  under  the  name  of  "  The  Associated  Presby- 
tery of  Westchester."  The  individuals  originally  com- 
posing it  were  Amzi  Lewis, — who  in  1787  removed  from 
Florida  to  North  Salem,  taking  charge  of  the  Academy 
and  at  the  same  time  acting  as  pastor  of  the  Presby- 
terian church, — John  Cornwoll,  Silas  Constant,  pastor 
of  Crumpond,  John  Townley,  of  Greenburg, — all  of 
whom  were  from  the  original  Presbytery, — together 
■with  Abner  Benedict,  soon  after  settled  at  North  Salem, 
Daniel  Marsh,  of  Poughkeepsie,  and  Medad  Rogers. 
At  a  subsequent  period,  among  the  members  of  the 
body  were  Andrews,  of  Pound  Ridge,  Abraham  Purdy 
and  Abner  Brundige,  of  Somers,  Bradford,  Knight, 
Blair,  Osborn,  St.  John,  Jones,  Austin,  Bouton,  Hosea 
Ball,  McKnight,  Frey,  and  others.  The  churches 
brought  into  this  connection  were  those  of  Sing  Sing, 
Greenburg,  Peekskill,  Yorktown,  Eed  Mills,  Gilead, 
Somers,  North  Salem,  Southeast,  and  Pound  Ridge, 
together  with  those  of  North  Stamford,  Cornwall,  and 
New  Fairfield,  in  the  State  of  Connecticut.  The  Pres- 
bytery continued  its  meetings  till  about  the  year  lsi'<», 
when  it  was  formally  dissolved,  and  the  members  con- 
nected themselves  with  other  ecclesiastical  bodies,  some 


216  HISTORY    OF    PRESBYTERIANISM. 

with  the  New  York  Presbyteries,  and  others  with  those 
of  Bedford  and  North  Kiver. 

Meanwhile  the  numbers  had  increased  in  the  more 
northern  portion  of  the  region  bounded  by  the  Hudson 
and  the  New  England  line.  It  was,  therefore,  proposed 
to  form  another  Presbytery  in  this  region.  The  pro- 
ject was  unanimously  favored  by  the  parent  Presby- 
tery, Westchester  Presbytery,  and  Berkshire  Associa- 
tion, of  Massachusetts,  who  were  consulted  in  reference 
to  it.  Accordingly,  Messrs.  John  Camp,  John  Stevens, 
Beriah  Hotchkin,  Robert  Campbell,  David  Porter,  and 
Luther  G-leson,  ministers  in  the  State  of  New  York, 
convened  at  New  Canaan,  November  12, 1793,  and  after 
a  mutual  interchange  of  views  formed  themselves  into 
an  Associated  Presbytery,  based  on  the  same  princi- 
ples with  those  of  Westchester  and  Morris  county,  and 
assumed  the  name  of  "  The  Northern  Associated  Pres- 
bytery in  the  State  of  New  York." 

The  distinct  organizations  having  been  thus  mul- 
tiplied, some  method  of  intercommunication,  which 
should  serve  as  a  bond  of  sympathy  and  union, 
remained  to  be  devised.  Committees  from  the  different 
Presbyteries  were  appointed  to  consider  the  subject. 
They  met  at  Poughkeepsie,  April  10,  1794,  and  agreed 
to  recommend  to  the  several  Presbyteries  the  appoint- 
ment of  two  or  more  correspondents,  whose  business 
it  should  be  to  communicate,  by  letter  or  otherwise, 
such  information  of  the  doings  or  prospects  of  their 
respective  bodies  as  might  be  thought  useful  or  neces- 
sary to  co-operative  effort.  These  correspondents,  more- 
over, were  to  meet  annually  as  a  Convention  of  Corre- 
spondence, to  consider  generally  the  wants  of  the  entire 
field,  and  make  such  recommendations  to  the  several 
Presbyteries  as  they  should  deem  adapted  to  promote 
the  cause  of  Christ. 

The  proposal  was  approved  by  the  Presbyteries,  and 


THE    ASSOCIATED    PRESBYTERIES,    1779-1818.  217 

the  annual  convention  was  held.  At  its  meeting  in 
1795,  it  adopted,  and  subsequently  (1796)  published,  a 
small  bound  volume  of  one  hundred  and  two  pages, 
entitled  "A  brief  account  of  the  Associated  Presby- 
teries, and  a  general  view  of  their  sentiments  concern- 
ing religion  and  ecclesiastical  order."  It  contained  a 
history  of  the  several  organizations,  and  their  senti- 
ments on  the  subjects  of  Christian  doctrine  and  church 
order.  "We  are  at  present,"  they  say,  "united  in  a 
general  scheme  of  doctrine,  which  may  be  denominated 
Calvinistie,  Edwardian,  or  Hopkinsian,  and  we  consider 
those  systems  which  in  our  day  and  country  are  gene- 
rally distinguished  by  those  terms,  as  essentially  ortho- 
dox. Yet  we  call  no  man  Father.  Nor  do  we  know  of 
any  public  system  or  Confession  of  Faith,  consisting  of 
many  particulars,  which  we  can  unitedly  adopt  without 
exception  or  explanation,  and  with  this  liberty  we  know 
of  none  which  we  cannot  adopt/' 

Their  own  Confession  of  Faith  consisted  of  eighteen 
articles,  mainly  accordant  with  the  Westminster  Con- 
fession, and  their  exposition  of  their  ecclesiastical  sen- 
timents was  what  might  be  expected  from  the  princi- 
ples of  their  organization. 

A  Fourth  Presbytery,  with  the  consent  of  the  North- 
ern Associated  Presbytery,  was  organized  at  Milton, 
February  3,  1807.  It  took  the  name  of  the  Saratoga 
Associated  Presbytery.  Its  constituent  members  were 
Elias  Gilbert,  Daniel  Marsh,  Charles  McCabe,  Elisha 
Yale,  and  Lebbeus  Armstrong.  The  churches  were 
Greenfield,  Moreau,  Bennington,  Vt.,  Kingsborough, 
Malta,  and  Milton.  The  last,  if  no  other,  had  been 
taken  under  the  care  of  the  Presbytery  of  Albany  as 
early  as  January  10,  1792,  and  remained  in  that  connec- 
tion till  January  21,  1800,  when  at  a  church-meeting, 
presided  over  by  Mr.  Gilbert,  ofCreentield.it  was  voted 

Vol.  I.— 19 


218  HISTORY    OF    PRESBYTERIANISM. 

to  adopt  the  system  of  doctrine  and  order  of  the  Asso- 
ciated Presbyteries. 

Members  who  subsequently  united  with  this  Presby- 
tery were  Sylvanus  Haight,  Eeuben  Armstrong,  Cyrus 
Comstock,  Silas  Parsons,  and  Joseph  Farrar.  The  only 
church  which  joined  it  was  one  organized  by  Messrs. 
Comstock,  and  Lebbeus  and  Eeuben  Armstrong,  in 
Luzerne  and  Hadley.  After  continuing  its  meetings 
till  September,  1818,  the  several  members  of  the  Pres- 
bytery requested  and  obtained  letters  of  dismission  to 
unite  with  other  ecclesiastical  bodies,  and  the  "  Sara- 
toga Associated  Presbytery"  adjourned  sine  die} 

It  was  doubtless  at  about  the  same  time  that  the  West- 
chester Associated  Presbytery  disbanded.  In  1819,  some 
of  its  churches  had  come  under  the  care  of  Presbyteries 
connected  with  the  General  Assembly;  and  previous  to 
1825  there  were  but  two  or  three  which  were  not  con- 
nected Avith  the  Presbytery  of  North  River  or  the 
Presbytery  of  New  York. 

Thus  the  most  rapid  growth  of  this  secession  was 
within  the  first  twenty  years  of  its  existence.  It 
embraced,  at  the  time  of  the  formation  of  the  Annual 
Convention,  quite  a  large  number  of  churches,  spread 
over  a  large  extent  of  country.  But  with  the  single 
exception  of  the  transient  organization  of  the  Saratoga 
Associated  Presbytery,  numbering  at  the  most  but  seven 
or  eight  churches,  it  made  no  further  advance.  One 
church  after  another  relinquished  connection  with  it, 
until  at  last  nearly  all  were  absorbed  by  the  surround- 
ing organizations,  either  Congregational  or  Presby- 
terian; and  in  thirty  years  afterward  all  the  memorials 
of  it  that  remained  were  to  be  found  in  the  fast -van- 
ishing records  of  its  churches  and  extinct  Presbyteries. 

1  The  records  of  the  body  were  left  in  the  hands  of  Rev.  Elisha 
Yale,  of  Kingsborough. 


THE    CAROLINAS.  219 


CHAPTER  XII. 

THE    CAROLINAS — RISE    AND    PROGRESS    OF    THE    CHURCH. 

The  final  and  successful  attempt  to  colonize  "  Caro- 
lina" was  due  to  a  project  formed  by  certain  courtiers 
of  Charles  II.  for  their  own  profit  and  aggrandizement. 
Their  selfish  scheme  was  veiled  with  the  pretext  of  "  a 
generous  desire  of  propagating  the  blessings  of  religion 
and  civility  in  a  barbarous  land."  A  project  couched 
in  these  terms  was  presented  to  the  king  by  eight  per- 
sons whose  fidelity  had  cheered  his  exile,  or  whose 
treachery  had  regained  for  him  his  throne.  Among 
them  were  Clarendon,  Monk,  and  Shaftesbury.  They 
claimed  to  be  "excited  by  a  laudable  and  pious  zeal  for 
the  propagation  of  the  gospel,"  and  they  "  begged  a 
certain  country  in  the  parts  of  America  not  yet  culti- 
vated and  planted,  and  only  inhabited  by  some  barba- 
rous people,  who  had  no  knowledge  of  God." 

Their  request  was  readily  granted.  The  charter  was 
doubtless  drawn  by  their  own  hands,  and  secured  them 
everything  "saving  the  sovereign  allegiance  due  to  the 
crown."  They  immediately  took  liberal  measures  to 
procure  a  settlement.  A  few  colonists  were  already  on 
the  ground,  and  to  them,  on  taking  the  oath  of  alle- 
giance and  submitting  to  the  proprietary  government, 
their  lands  were  assured  and  their  rights  conceded. 
Arrangements  were  made  for  a  popular  government, 
limited  only  by  the  laws  of  England  and  the  veto  of 
the  proprietaries.  To  all,  the  most  perfect  freedom  of 
religion  was  assured. 

A  singular  spectacle   is  this, — a  body  of  men  whose 


220  HISTORY    OF    PllESBYTERIANISM. 

names  were  indissolubly  associated  with  the  legislation 
that  harassed  English  Dissenters,  and  surrendered  jus- 
tice to  High-Church  bigotry,  yet  adopting — when  left 
to  look  simply  at  their  own  pecuniary  interests — a 
policy  as  liberal  as  the  most  fanatic  of  Cromwell's  Inde- 
pendents could  have  desired.  The  same  hands  which 
framed  the  intolerant  Act  of  Conformity  in  England 
shaped  a  satire  on  their  own  folly  in  the  constitution 
which  they  gave  to  Carolina.  While  with  relentless 
severity  they  silenced  such  men  as  John  Owen,  and 
filled  English  prisons  with  men  like  Baxter,  Buiryan, 
and  Alleine,  they  allowed  the  colonists  the  most  perfect 
and  entire  freedom  of  opinion.  The  'New  England 
settler,  the  English  Dissenter,  the  Scotch  Presbyterian, 
were  alike  welcome,  and  alike  invited  to  a  refuge  from 
oppression.  It  may  even  excite  a  doubt,  whether  per- 
secution in  England  was  not  made  more  virulent  by  a 
policy  which  demanded  exiles  to  people  the  colonies. 

The  early  settlers  were  from  diverse  localities, — New 
England,1  Virginia,  Barbadoes,  and  at  length  in  increas- 
ing numbers  from  Ireland  and  Scotland.  For  many 
years  it  is  doubtful,  however,  whether  the  province 
was  visited  by  a  single  clergyman.  Its  growth  was  for 
a  long  period  very  slow,  and  among  the  scattered  and 
far  from  homogeneous  population  no  effort  seems  to 
have  been  made  to  establish  religious  institutions  of 
any  kind.  More  than  half  a  century  passed  away 
(1663-1715)  before  the  Presbyterian  Church  could  be 
said  to  exist  within  the  northern  portion  of  the  colony. 

1  In  1658,  a  small  company  of  emigrants  from  Massachusetts, 
carrying  their  religious  institutions  with  them,  settled  around  Cape 
Fear.  For  many  years  their  condition  was  one  of  poverty  and  hard- 
ships. In  1607,  the  Bay  Legislature  recommended  them  to  their 
former  fellow-colonists  as  objects  worthy  of  charitable  relief.  Con- 
tributions were  made  for  them,  and  a  vessel  was  sent  them  laden 
with  supplies. — Felt's  New  England,  ii.  232,  307,  417. 


THE   CAR0LINA8.  221 

The  original  Presbyterianism  of  the  Carolinas  was 

mainly  of  the  Scotch  type.  As  early  as  1729,  Scotch 
emigrants  settled  on  Cape  Fear  River,  Cumberland 
county,  N.C.  In  1736,  we  trace  the  arrival  of  others. 
In  the  winter  of  17^9,  Whitefield  preached,  "not  with- 
out effect,"  at  Newton,  on  Cape  Fear  River,  where 
among  the  congregation  were  many  settlers  who  had 
recently  arrived  from  Scotland.1  The  rebellion  of  1745 
sent  large  numbers  of  Highlanders  over  to  this  region. 
.Many  who  had  taken  up  arms  for  the  Pretender  pre- 
ferred exile  to  death  or  subjugation  in  their  native  land. 
Ship-load  after  ship-load  landed  at  Wilmington  in  1746 
and  1747.  In  the  course  of  a  few  years  more  they  were 
joined  by  large  companies  of  their  countrymen,  who 
wished  to  improve  their  condition  and  become  owners 
of  the  soil  upon  which  they  lived  and  labored.  For 
the  most  part,  they  were  a  moral  and  religious  people, 
noted  for  their  industry,  economy,  thrift,  and  perse- 
verance.2 

No  minister  of  religion  came  out  with  the  first  set- 
tlers. It  was  nearly  ten  years  after  the  emigration 
of  1747  before  they  secured  the  services  of  a  Pres- 
byterian minister.  The  first  one  who  labored  among 
them  was  James  Campbell,  who  from  1730  had  been 
settled  over  a  church  of  Scotch  emigrants  in  Pennsyl- 
vania.3   Despondent  in  regard  to  his  own  spiritual  con- 

>  Webster,  p.  531. 

2  The  materials  for  the  early  history  of  Presbyterianism  in  Virginia 
and  Carolina  have  been  largely  drawn  from  Foote's  Sketches. 

3  Webster  makes  Campbell  a  native  of  Argyleshire,  Scotland, 
emigrant  to  this  country  in  1730,  licensed  by  New  Castle  Presby- 
tery in  1735,  and  "well  received''  by  Fhiladelphia  Presbytery,  May 
22,  1739.  After  preaching  for  four  years,  part  of  the  time  at 
Tehicken,  he  became  convinced  that  he  was  still  unconverted,  and 
ceased  to  preach.  After  conference  with  Whitefield  and  Tennent, 
he  resumed  his  labors.     After  his  ordination  in  1712,  he  divided  his 

19* 


222  HISTORY    OF    PRESBYTERIANISM. 

dition,  he  had  ceased  to  preach,  but  at  an  interview 
with  Whitefield,  whom  he  met  as  he  traversed  the 
country,  his  doubts  were  overcome  and.  his  difficulties 
removed.  lie  resumed  his  ministry,  and  at  length  took 
up  his  residence  on  the  left  bank  of  Cape  Fear  Eiver,  a 
few  miles  above  Fayetteville.  Here  and  in  the  sur- 
rounding region  he  labored  with  untiring  zeal  for  nearly 
a  quarter  of  a  century.  His  labors  had  no  bounds  but 
his  strength.  He  had  three  regular  congregations,  one  at 
"Eoger's  Meeting-House,"  one  at  "Barbacue  Church," 
and  one  at  McKay's,  now  known  as  Long  Street. 

Here  were  the  pioneer  churches  of  the  region.  As 
emigration  continued  and  population  increased,  new 
neighborhoods  were  formed,  and  new  congregations 
gathered.  One  after  another  the  numerous  churches  in 
Cumberland,  Eobeson,  Moore,  Eichmond,  and  Bladen 
counties  were  organized,  and  new  laborers  were  de- 
manded. In  1770,  Eev.  John  McLeod  came  from  Scot- 
land, accompanied  by  a  large  number  of  Highland 
families,  to  cheer  the  heart  and  strengthen  the  hands 
of  the  pioneer  missionary. 

More  worthy  of  special  mention  for  his  labors  in  this 
field  is  Hugh  McAden,  a  graduate  of  Nassau  Hall  and 
a  theological  pupil  of  John  Blair.  He  was  licensed  in 
1755  by  New  Castle  Presbytery,  and  was  immediately 
sent  out  as  a  missionary  to  the  Carolinas.  On  a  por- 
tion of  his  route  he  had  been  preceded  by  that  "  burn- 
ing and  shining  light,"  William  Eobinson,  whose  suc- 
cess in  Carolina  was  far  less  than  in  Virginia.  By  him 
Duplin  and  New  Hanover,  and  the  scattered  settle- 
ments of  that  region,  were  visited.  But  his  journey 
was  attended  by  much  exposure  and  many  hardships. 

time  between  Greenwich  and  the  Forks  of  the  Delaware.  On  the 
division,  he  adhered  to  the  New  side,  and  was  sent  to  preach  to  the 
vacant  churches. —  Webster,  530. 


THE    CABOLINAS.  223 

Mi-Aden  fared  but  little  better.  His  journal1  still 
exists,  and  attests  his  indefatigable  zeal  and  devoted 
purpose.  lLe  passed  through  Virginia,  and  extended 
his  labors  into  the  northern  part  of  South  Carolina. 
At  various  places  on  his  route  he  was  warmly  wel- 
comed, and  at  some  was  invited  to  remain.  lie  found 
the  people  greatly  scattered,  but  anxious  generally  to 
hear  preaching. 

In  17-V.t.  lie  was  dismissed  from  New  Castle  to  Hano- 
ver Presbytery,  which  then  included  the  greater  part 
of  Virginia,  and.  extending  indefinitely  south,  covered 
his  destined  field  of  labor.  This  embraced  the  congre- 
gations of  Duplin  and  New  Hanover,  the  largest  at 
that  period  within  the  bounds  of  the  State.  Here  he 
remained  for  ten  years.  After  this  he  took  charge 
of  the  churches  of  Hico,  Dan  River,  and  County  Line 
Creek,  with  which  he  labored  till  his  death  in  1781. 

At  the  time  when  he  commenced  his  labors  in  North 
Carolina,  there  were  some  Presbyterian  churches  built, 
and  many  worshipping  assemblies,  yet  few,  if  any, 
organized  churches,  and  no  settled  minister.  McAden 
himself  belonged  to  the  New  side.  He  was  in  sym- 
pathy with  Hanover  Presbytery,  and  was  a  man  of 
kindred  spirit  with  Robinson  and  Davies. 

Among  the  members  set  off  by  the  Synod  to  form  the 
Presbytery  of  Hanover,  in  1755,  occurs  the  name  of 
Alexander  Craighead.  He  wTas  licensed  by  Donegal 
Presbytery  in  1734,  became  afterward  a  warm  friend 
of  Whitetield,  and  was  an  earnest  and  awakening 
preacher.  His  zeal  for  the  "Solemn  League  and  Cove- 
nant" carried  him  away,  and  for  some  years  his  name 
disappears  from  the  Synodical  records.  He  had  asso 
ciated  himself  with  the  Cameronians;  but  in  1749  he 

1  Foote,  in  his  Sketches  of  North  Carolina,  gives  this  journal  in 
full. 


224  HISTOKY    OF    ritESBYTERIANISM. 

had  found  his  way  to  the  western  frontiers  of  Virginia. 
Here  he  labored  for  several  years,  in  a  situation  much 
exposed  to  the  hostile  inroads  of  the  Indians;  and  when 
Eraddock's  defeat  sent  terror  through  the  whole  valley 
and  large  numbers  of  the  population  fled  to  the  South, 
he  followed  them  to  North  Carolina.1  Crossing  the 
Blue  Eidge,  he  found  a  location  among  the  settlements 
along  the  Catawba  and  its  smaller  tributaries.  In  Janu- 
ary, 1758,  he  was  directed  to  preach  at  Eocky  River, 
and  visit  other  vacancies  till  the  spring  meeting  of  the 
Presbytery.  At  this  meeting  a  call  from  Eocky  Eiver 
was  presented  for  his  services,  and  here  he  was  installed 
during  the  course  of  the  year.  Thus  Eocky  Eiver  was 
the  oldest  church  in  the  upper  country,  and  Sugar 
Creek  was  within  its  bounds. 

Here  Mr.  Craighead  passed  his  closing  days.  Unmo- 
lested by  Virginia  intolerance,  which  he  could  ill  brook; 
far  removed  from  interference  from  his  own  ecclesias- 
tical brethren  who  might  be  disposed  to  criticize  his 
revival  movements,  he  poured  forth,  among  a  people 
prepared  to  receive  them,  his  really  noble  and  manly 
principles  of  civil  and  religious  freedom,  which  bore 
fruit  in  the  Mecklenburg  Convention  and  the  bold 
stand  of  his  adopted  State  in  favor  of  national  inde- 
pendence. 

Into  this  region  there  had  already  begun  to  pour  a 
strong  tide  of  immigration.  It  was  mainly  from  Ire- 
land j  but  it  reached  this  Mesopotamia  of  North  Caro- 
lina by  different  routes.  Part  came  by  the  port  of 
Charleston,  and  part  by  Philadelphia  and  the  Delaware. 
The  two  streams  met  and  commingled,  producing  a 
class  of  population  worthy  of  the  highest  honor.  They 
carried  their  principles  with  them  into  the  wilderness. 
They  built  churches,  and  earnestly  sought  ministers  or 

i  Webster,  437. 


THE    CAROLINAS.  225 

missionaries  from  the  Synod;  and  in  the  Revolutionary 
conflict  the  strength  of  their  principles  was  tested  by 
their  devotion  to  the  cause  of  liberty  of  person  and 
conscience. 

Almost  contemporaneously  with  the  settlement  of 
Mr.  Craighead  at  Rocky  River,  the  congregations  of 
Hopewell,  Steel  Creek,  New  Providence,  Poplar  Tent, 
Rocky  River,  Centre,  and  Thyatira,  were  gathered. 
Their  applications  to  Synod  for  aid  in  procuring 
preaching  were  frequent  and  earnest.  Nor  were  they 
altogether  unheeded.  Year  alter  year,  missionaries  were 
appointed  to  visit  the  destitute  settlements  of  Virginia 
and  Carolina.  In  1764,  McWhorter  and  Spencer  were 
sent  to  North  Carolina,  and  by  them  quite  a  number  of 
the  churches  in  the  neighborhood  of  .Mecklenburg  were 
organized. 

In  1765,  a  call  was  presented  to  Hanover  Presbytery, 
for  Henry  Patillo,  from  the  congregations  of  Hawfields, 
Eno,  and  Little  River.  Patillo  had  been  a  student  under 
Davies,  and  had  been  licensed  by  Hanover  Presbytery 
in  1757.  As  a  patriarch  of  the  Presbyterian  Church 
in  North  Carolina,  his  name  is  worthy  of  more  than 
merely  a  passing  mention.1  Of  large  frame  and  some- 
what coarse  features,  but  honest  and  candid  to  a  pro- 
verb, his  genial  spirit  and  freedom  from  all  assumption 
bound  the  hearts  of  others  to  him,  and  made  them  for- 
get the  plainness  of  his  countenance  and  homeliness  of 
his  manner,  in  the  integrity  of  his  heart  and  the  fervent 
simplicity  of  his  purpose.  He  was  above  the  influence 
of  all  merely  earthly  considerations.  He  confessed  no 
attachment  to  any  thing  of  a  perishable  nature,  except. 
books.  He  was  always  poor,  and  never  envied  wealth. 
He  sustained  himself  in  his  preparation  for  the  minis- 
try  by  teaching  the  children  of  his  neighbor-,.     I  lis 

1  Spraguc,  iii.  196. 


226  HISTORY    OF    mrSBYTERIANISM. 

dwelling — for  he  was  married  at  the  time — was  a  "  house 
sixteen  feet  by  twelve  and  an  outside  chimney,  with  an 
eight-feet  shed,  a  little  chimney  to  it."  Yet  even  thus 
he  was  well  content. 

But  Mr.  Davies,  who  fell  in  with  him  upon  a  preach- 
ing-excursion to  the  Roanoke,  and  encouraged  him  to 
study  for  the  ministry,  did  not  need  to  blush  for  his 
pupil.  Patillo  proved  himself  "  possessed  of  an  origin- 
ality of  genius,  and  endowed  by  nature  with  powers  of 
mind  superior  to  the  common  lot  of  men."  But,  above 
all,  lie  was  most  devoted  to  his  work.  He  lived  for 
Christ.  All  the  ardor  of  his  nature,  all  the  genial 
warmth  of  his  friendship,  was  enlisted  in  the  duties  of 
his  sacred  calling.  Sustained  by  an  unwavering  faith, 
he  was  always  cheerful,  always  active.  It  was  rarely 
that  his  sky  was  clouded  or  his  spirit  disheartened. 
For  thirty-six  years — the  last  twenty-one  at  Nutbush 
and  Grassy  Creek — he  was  zealous  and  indefatigable 
in  the  service  of  Christ;  and  the  Church  in  North 
Carolina  may  well  be  proud  to  name  him  among  her 
founders.  Of  the  first  Provincial  Congress  of  the  State 
(1775)  he  was  elected  a  member,  and  was  unanimously 
elected  chairman  of  the  committee  of  the  whole,  on 
the  subject  of  a  National  Confederation. 

Early  in  1765,  a  call  was  presented  to  the  New  Bruns- 
wick Presbytery,  by  the  congregations  in  Buffalo  and 
Alamance  settlements,  for  the  services  of  David  Cald- 
well.1 He  was  a  native  of  Lancaster  county,  Penn- 
sylvania, the  son  of  a  plain  farmer,  and  was  twenty -five 
years  of  age  before  he  was  converted.  He  at  once 
commenced  his  preparations  for  the  ministry,  under 
Robert  Smith,  of  Pequa,  was  graduated  at  Nassau  Hall 
in  1761,  and  in  1763  was  licensed  to  preach. 

His  first  labors  were  in   the  region  where  he  was 

1  Sprague.  iii.  259. 


THE    CAROLINAS.  227 

afterward  settled.  He  visited  North  Carolina  as  a  mis- 
sionary of  the  Synod,  and  Labored  there  somewhat  over 

a  year.  On  his  return  in  1765,  he  entered  upon  his 
parochial  duties.     It  may  give  some  idea  of  the  feeble 

condition  of  his  united  congregations,  that  both  of 
them  gave  him  in  all  but  a  salary  of  two  hundred 
dollars.  It  was,  therefore,  a  matter  of  necessity  for 
him  to  make  other  provision  for  his  support.  He 
accordingly  purchased  a  small  farm,  and  at  nearly  the 
same  time  commenced  a  classical  school  in  his  own 
house.  His  usefulness  as  a  teacher  was  scarcely  infe- 
rior to  his  usefulness  in  the  pulpit.  Some  of  the  most 
eminent  men  in  Church  and  State  were  trained  under 
his  instructions.  His  scholars  ranged  generally  in  num- 
ber from  fifty  to  sixty. 

Mr.  Caldwell's  congregations  needed  a  man  of  his 
discretion  to  preserve  their  harmony.  The  church  at 
Buffalo  was  composed  of  Old-side  members;  that  at 
Alamance  of  New-side,  or  followers  of  Whitefield.  In 
him,  however,  they  wTere  united;  and  they  had  good 
reason  to  be. 

Tradition  says  that  the  first  sacramental  occasion 
observed  by  Presbyterians  in  Granville  was  in  1763. 
William  Tennent,  Jr.,1  recently  ordained  by  New  Bruns- 
wick Presbytery  for  a  Southern  mission,  officiated.  For 
six  months  he  labored  in  this  region,  under  the  direc- 
tion of  the  Presbytery  of  Hanover.  The  congrega- 
tions were  regularly  organized  by  James  Cresswell, 
licentiate  of  Hanover  Presbytery,  who  supplied  them 
for  some  years. 

The  interests  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  in  North 
Carolina  were  not  neglected  by  the  Synod  of  New 
York  and  Philadelphia.  Repeatedly  that  body  sent 
some  of  its  best  men  as   missionaries    into   the   field, 


Subsequently  >>i'  Charleston. 


228  HISTORY    OF    PRESBYTERIANISM. 

to  gather  congregations  and  organize  churches.  Among 
the  names  of  those  who  were  thus  commissioned,  we 
meet  with  those  of  William  Tenncnt,  Jr.,  Nathan  Ker, 
George  Duffield,  William  Ramsey,  James  Latta,  Elihu 
Spencer,  and  Alexander  McWhorter.  In  1770,  Hezekiah 
Balch,  whose  life  is  identified  with  the  history  of  the 
Presbyterian  Church  in  East  Tennessee,  was  ordained 
as  an  evangelist  by  the  Presbytery  of  New  Castle,  and 
entered  on  his  labors  as  a  missionary  of  the  Presbytery 
of  Hanover  in  North  Carolina. 

As  the  number  of  ministers  and  churches  in  this 
region  increased,  the  need  was  felt  of  another  Presby- 
tery, the  membership  of  which  should  consist  of  minis- 
ters south  of  the  Virginia  line.  At  a  meeting,  there- 
fore, of  Hanover  Presbytery  (1770),  a  petition  was  pre- 
pared for  Synod,  asking  for  a  Presbytery  for  Carolina 
and  the  South.  The  petition  was  granted,  and  Hugh 
McAden,  Henry  Patillo,  David  Caldwell,  James  Criswell, 
Hezekiah  Balch,  Hezekiah  James  Balch,  and  Joseph 
Alexander,  were  constituted  a  Presbytery,  by  the  name 
of  Orange.  From  time  to  time  the  Presbytery  was 
strengthened  by  the  accession  of  new  members,  most 
of  them  originally  from  the  North,  but  at  an  early  age 
residents  of  North  Carolina.  Thomas  Reese,  a  native 
of  Pennsylvania,  had  removed  when  quite  young,  with 
his  father's  family,  to  Mecklenburg  county,  N.C.,  where 
he  prosecuted  his  studies  at  an  academy  under  charge 
of  Rev.  Joseph  Alexander,  the  successor  of  Alexander 
Craighead,  as  pastor  of  Buffalo  and  Sugar  Creek,  in 
1768.  Mr.  Alexander  was  a  fine  scholar,  a  graduate  of 
Princeton  and  a  licentiate  of  the  Presbytery  of  New 
Castle.  In  connection  with  a  Mr.  Benedict,  he  taught  a 
classical  school  of  high  excellence  and  usefulness.  When 
the  Presbyterians  subsequently  proposed  to  secure  of 
the  king  a  charter  for  a  college,  he  was  named  as  the 
first  professor. 


THE    CABOLINAS.  229 

Under  his  care  young  Reese  pursued  his  preparatory 
course.  In  L768,  at  the  age  of  twenty-six,  he  was 
graduated  a1  Princefon.  Returning  to  Carolina,  he 
devoted  some  time  to  the  study  of.  theology,  and  was 
the  first  minister  ordained  by  the  new  Presbytery  of 
Orange  in  1 7  7  -  J .  Soon  after  this  he  entered  upou  his 
labors  in  the  pastorate  of  Salem  Church,  Sumter  Dis- 
trict, 8.C.  In  1792  or  1793.  he  removed  to  Pendleton 
District,  S.C.,  where  he  Labored  for  several  years.  A 
distinguished  scholar,  and  eminently  devoted  to  his 
work,  he  exerted  a  wide  and  healthful  influence. 
Anxious  only  for  the  salvation  of  souls,  "  his  success  in 
his  ministerial  labors  evinced  the  presence  and  power 
of  the  Holy  Spirit." 

In  177<i.  the  Presbytery  of  Orange  licensed  the  cele- 
brated James  Hall, — a  man  with  whose  life  the  history 
of  the  Presbyterian  Church  throughout  the  Southwest 
is  largely  interwoven.  He  was  of  Scotch-Irish  descent, 
a  native  of  Carlisle,  Pa.  At  an  early  age  he  removed 
with  his  parents  to  Iredell  count}',  N.C.,  and  within 
the  bounds  of  the  congregation  of  which  he  afterward 
became  pastor.  From  early  childhood  his  mind  was 
religiously  impressed.  At  the  age  of  twenty  he  made 
a  public  profession  of  religion,  and  at  about  the  same 
time  he  resolved  to  devote  himself  to  the  work  of  the 
ministry.  In  1774,  at  the  ripe  age  of  thirty-one,  he 
was  graduated  at  Princeton,  and  such  were  his  mathe- 
matical attainments  that  President  Witherspoon  ex- 
pressed  a  desire  that  he  should  be  retained  as  a  teacher 
in  the  college.  But  the  consciousness  of  his  sacred 
purpose  to  devote  himself  to  the  work  of  the  ministry 
forbade  his  acceptance  of  the  offered  position. 

His  theological  course  was  pursued  under  I>r.  Wither- 
spoon.  Upon  its  completion  he  returned  to  North  Caro- 
lina. On  every  side  the  broad  field  of  spiritual  desti- 
tution invited  Laborers.    Various  congregations  pressed 

Vol.  1.— I'd 


230  HISTORY    OF    PRESBYTERIANISM. 

Mr.  Hall  to  become  their  pastor.  These  applications 
he  felt  it  necessary  to  decline,  and  finally  settled — 
where  his  early  years  were  spent — over  the  united 
congregations  of  Fourth  Creek,  Concord,  and  Bethany. 
In  1790,  he  secured  a  release  from  the  first  two,  retain- 
ing only  his  connection  with  Bethany,  that  he  might 
have  more  time  to  devote  to  the  cause  of  domestic 
missions. 

In  this  cause  he  was  a  pioneer  and  veteran  laborer. 
Over  a  vast  region  of  country  his  excursions  were 
extended  and  his  influence  felt.  In  his  own  congrega- 
tions his  labors  were  eminently  blessed.  As  the  fruit 
of  revivals,  eighty  were  received  to  the  communion 
at  one  time,  and  sixty  at  another.  Few  men  have  left 
behind  them  a  more  enviable  memory.  Devotedly 
pious,  unwearied  in  his"  endeavors,  sagacious  in  his 
plans,  and  self-denying  in  the  work  which  he  loved 
above  every  thing  else,  his  ministry  for  forty  years 
"  was  one  glowing  scene  of  untiring  activity  and  ear- 
nest zeal  to  win  souls  to  Christ."  Precious  memorials 
of  him,  as  a  warm  and  active  friend  of  revivals,  still 
survive  among  the  churches  of  the  region  in  which  he 
labored.  His  solemn,  pungent  appeals  in  the  pulpit, 
his  grave,  impressive  manner,  his  long  and  toilsome 
missionary  tours,  and  the  constancy  of  a  consecration 
to  his  work  which  improved  for  usefulness  every  oppor- 
tunity that  offered,  have  invested  his  name  with  pecu- 
liar interest. 

A  worthy  compeer  and  co-Presbyter  of  Hall  was 
Samuel  Eusebius  McCorkle,  who,  like  him,  a  native  of 
Pennsylvania,  early  removed  to  North  Carolina.  In 
1766,  he  commenced  his  preparatory  course  of  study 
at  Dr.  Caldwell's  school  in  Giilford  county,  and  in  1772 
was  graduated  at  Princeton  in  the  same  class  with  Dr. 
McMillan  and  Aaron  Burr.  In  1774,  he  was  licensed 
by  the  Presbytery  of  New  York,  and  by  the  Synod 


THE    CAR0LINA8.  231 

was  commissioned  to  go  southward  and  labor  for  at 
least  a  year  under  the  direction  of  the  Presbyteries  of 
Hanover  and  Orange.  After  spending  two  years  as  a 
missionary  in  Virginia,  he  accepted  the  call  of  the 
church  at  Thyatira,  where  his  early  years  had  been 
spent,  and  where  his  parents  still  resided.  For  thirty- 
five  years  his  course  of  usefulness  and  successful  labor 
was  continued  in  the  region  where  he  first  settled. 
For  ten  or  twelve  years,  he,  like  many  of  his  brethren 
in  the  ministry,  took  charge  of  a  classical  school,  which 
bore  the  significant  name  of  Zion  Parnassus.  He  was 
a  thorough  scholar  and  a  devoted  minister,  less  of  a 
missionary  than  a  student,  and  so  intensely  devoted  to 
theological  investigations  that  his  temporal  interests 
were  sometimes  too  much  neglected.  He  wrote  his  dis- 
courses, but  used  no  manuscript  in  the  pulpit.  His  tall 
and  manly  form,  his  grave  and  solemn  countenance, 
and  his  impressive  and  thrilling  tones,  made  his  dis- 
courses most  effective  in  riveting  the  attention  and 
amusing  the  conscience.  In  the  revivals  of  1801  and 
1802,  his  influence,  like  that  of  Hall,  was  deeply  and 
widely  felt. 

Quite  a  number  of  churches  had  been  gathered  in 
the  bounds  of  North  Carolina  before  the  Presbytery 
of  Orange  numbered  any  under  its  care  south  of  the 
State  line.  The  Presbytery  of  Charleston  stood  apart 
by  itself,  and  occupied  but  a  limited  portion  of  the 
State."  The  Williamsburg  church  was  formed  as  early 
as  1736,  and  for  many  years  enjo3~ed  great  spiritual 
prosperity.  But  for  some  time  previous  to  the  Revolu- 
tion its  prosperity  had  declined,  chiefly,  it  is  said,  in 
consequence  of  receiving  Large  accessions  from  the 
North  of  Ireland,  in  which,  to  Bay  the  least,  spiritual- 
ity was  not  the  predominant  element.  Throughout 
the  war  of  the  Revolution  the  church  was  vacant,  and 
its  difficulties  were  only  aggravated  by  the  subsequent 


232  HISTORY    OF    FRESBYTERIANISM. 

settlement  of  a  Mr.  Kennedy.  By  a  secession  the 
Bethel  Church  was  formed  previous  to  1790,  over  which, 
in  connection  with  that  of  Indian  town,  James  White 
Stephenson  was  settled  from  1790  to  1808.1 

In  1782,  Francis  Cummins  accepted  a  call  from  Bethel 
Church,  in  the  district  of  York,  S.C.,  where  he  was 
ordained  toward  the  close  of  that  year.  Like  MeCor- 
kle,  Hall,  and  Reese,  he  was  a  native  of  Pennsylvania, 
but  had  removed  with  his  family,  while  yet  a  }Touth,  to 
Mecklenburg  county,  N.C.  Here  he  enjoyed  and  im- 
proved the  opportunity  atforded  him  for  an  education 
superior  to  any  which  had  hitherto  offered.  In  the 
neighboring  college,  then  called  "  Queen's  Museum," 
under  the  instruction  of  Eev.  Dr.  McWhorter,  who  had 
recently  removed  thither  from  New  Jersey,  he  pursued 
his  studies,  and  was  graduated  in  1776.  His  theological 
studies  were  pursued  under  the  direction  of  Eev.  James 
Hall,  and  in  1780  he  was  licensed  to  preach  by  the 
Presbytery  of  Orange. 

His  fields  of  labor  were  numerous  and  varied.  Indeed, 
his  labors  were  never  confined  to  a  single  congregation. 
There  were  some  twenty  churches  which  considered 
him  as,  in  some  sense,  their  pastor,  during  the  whole 
course  of  his  ministry.  Twenty-four  years  were  spent 
in  South  Carolina,  and  twenty-five  in  Georgia.  Yet, 
during  this  long  period,  his  time  was  almost  always 
laboriously  divided  between  teaching  and  preaching. 
The  churches  in  that  region  were  at  this  period  so 
generally  missionary  stations,  and  the  ministers  so  few 
in  number,  that  their  efforts  were  spread  necessarily 
over  a  broad  field. 

Of  this  arduous  work,  Dr.  Cummins  performed  his 
full  share.  Indeed,  he  seemed  peculiarly  adapted  to  it. 
An  accurate  scholar,  an  able  and  well-read  theologian, 

1  Sprague,  iii.  552. 


THE   CAROLINAS.  233 

with  a  physical  development  in  keeping  with  his  Large 
intellectual  gifts,  and  a  high,  capacious,  and  intelled  uaJ 
forehead  which  proclaimed  him  no  ordinary  man.  his 
presence  in  the  pulpit  was  sure  to  command  attention 
and  awaken  interest.  His  deep-toned  voice,  somewhat 
authoritative  and  dictatorial  manner,  and  perfect  self- 
command,  conjoined  with  his  mental  and  spiritual  gifts, 
rendered  him  eminent  as  a  preacher.  He  lived  to  aripe 
old  age  of  nearly  fourscore,  and  died  in  1831. 

These  were  among  the  most  eminent  of  the  early 
ministers  of  Orange  Presbytery.  But  there  were  others 
who  labored  in  the  region  for  a  longer  or  a  shorter 
period.  In  1760,  Rev.  Eobert  Tate  came  from  Ireland 
to  Wilmington,  and  opened  a  classical  school  for  his 
support.  Many  of  the  young  men  of  New  Hanover, 
who  took  an  active  part  in  the-  Revolution,  enjoyed  his 
instructions.  While  residing  at  Wilmington,  where  no 
Presbyterian  church  was  organized  until  after  the  war, 
he  was  accustomed  to  make  preaching  excursions 
through  New  Hanover  and  the  adjoining  counties,  par- 
ticularly up  the  Black  and  South  Rivers.  During  the 
war.  on  account  of  his  ardent  Whig  principles,  he  found 
it  prudent  to  leave  Wilmington  and  reside  in  the  Jlaw- 
fields,  in  Orange.  Without  being  settled  as  a  pastor,  he 
performed  a  large  amount  of  missionary  labor.  His 
cultured  manners,  genial  conversation,  and  winning 
deportment  gave  him  great  influence,  especially  among 
the  young. 

Rev.  William  Richardson  labored  for  a  while  at  Provi- 
dence, although  his  residence  was  in  South  Carolina 
and  he  was  a  member  of  the  Charleston  Presbytery. 
He  was  a  licentiate  of  Hanover  Presbytery  in  1758. 

Rev.  John  Debow  was  the  second  pastor  of  the  con- 
gregations of  the  Eno  and  the  Haw.  He  commenced 
his  labors  as  a  Licentiate  <>r  the  Presbytery  of  New 
Brunswick  in  1775,  but  died  eight  years  afterward. 

20* 


234  HISTORY    OF    PRESBYTERIANISM. 

In  1785,  Rev.  William  Bingham  commenced  his  labois 
at  Wilmington  and  in  the  surrounding  country.  He 
was  a  native  of  Ireland,  and  an  excellent  scholar.  He 
sustained  himself  b}r  conducting  a  classical  school,  in 
the  management  of  which  he  was  exceedingly  popular. 
At  a  later  period  he  removed  to  the  upper  country,  and 
taught  with  great  success  in  Chatham  and  Orange. 

At  about  this  period,  James  McGready,  whose  name 
figures  so  largely  in  connection  with  the  revivals  in 
Kentucky  at  the  commencement  of  the  present  cen- 
tury, commenced  his  labors  in  North  Carolina.  His 
unsparing  denunciations  of  wickedness,  and  his  terrible 
appeals,  which  won  him  the  title  of  "  Boanerges,"  ren- 
dered him,  while  popular  with  some,  greatly  obnoxious 
to  others.  But  his  labors  were*  not  in  vain.  Among 
those  who  were  deeply  affected  by  his  influence  was 
the  Rev.  William  Hodge,  who  is  said  to  have  been  a 
native  of  Hawfields,  and  who  accompanied  McGready 
to  Kentucky.  While  McGready  was  preaching  on 
Stoney  Creek  and  along  the  Haw  River  in  1789,  Hodge 
was  one  of  his  constant  hearers.  In  listening  to  the 
bold,  fearless  preacher,  he  felt  his  own  desire  to  preach 
the  gospel  revived,  and,  on  being  licensed  by  the  Pres- 
bytery of  Orange,  he  went  hand  and  heart  with  his 
teacher  in  the  revival  work. 

Meanwhile,  the  Presbytery  of  Orange  was  extending 
toward  the  West.  Eastern  Tennessee  was  included 
within  its  bounds.  Here  were  to  be  found  some  of  its 
most  earnest  and  devoted  members.  Among  them 
were  Charles  Cummings  and  Hezekiah  Balch.  These, 
with  Samuel  Houston,  Samuel  Carrick,  John  Cossan, 
and  James  Balch,  formed  at  a  subsequent  period  the 
Presbytery  of  Abingdon,  in  East  Tennessee. 

The  Presbyterian  Church  in  the  Carolinas  had  passed 
through  a  trying  period.  The  influence  of  the  war 
was  disastrous  to  public  morals,  while  many  of  the 


THE   CAROLINAS.  2o5 

churches  and  congregations  were  sadly  scattered.  In 
some  cases  the  people  dared  ool  assemble.  A  meeting 
for  religious  purposes  would  have  been  accounted  trea- 
son, and,  while  the  country  was  in  the  hands  of  the 
British  troops,  would  but  too  surely  have  invited  a  visit 
of  the  dragoons. 

The  pastors,  moreover,  were  especially  obnoxious. 
Prom  the  first  they  had  manifested  a  warm  zeal  in  the 
cause  of  national  independence.  Some  of  them  had 
for  years  before  the  crisis  been  inculcating  those  princi- 
ples of  civil  and  religious  freedom  which  bore  fruit  in 
the  results  of  the  Revolutionary  conflict.  Indeed,  they 
might  he  said  to  have  given  the  impulse  to  the  popular 
mind  around  them,  which  resulted  in  the  Declaration 
of  the  celebrated  .Mecklenburg  Convention.  In  the 
proceedings  of  this  body,  the  influence  of  the  Presby- 
terian (.dement  which  helped  to  compose  it  is  plainly 
seen.  Xor  were  they  wanting  to  themselves  or  to  their 
country  when  the  crisis  came.  Patillo  was  a  member 
of  the  first  Provincial  Congress  in  1775,  and  its  chair- 
man when  it  sat  in  committee  of  the  whole.  Caldwell 
was  a  member  of  the  State  Convention  in  1776.  Craig- 
head had  already  for  more  than  a  score  of  years  been 
a  zealous  and  uncompromising  champion  of  those  prin- 
ciples of  civil  and  religious  liberty  of  which  the  Meck- 
lenburg Declaration  was  a  practical  exposition.  As 
members  of  the  convention,  sat  several  elders  of  the 
Presbyterian  churches  in  the  Mecklenburg  district. 
There  were  at  least  seven  of  these,  four  of  them  of  the 
well-known  name  of  Alexander.  The  Rev.  Hezekiah 
James  Baloh  was  also  a  member;  and  among  the  young 
men  who  listened  to  the  doings  of  the  convention  were 
Joseph  (afterward  General  Joseph)  Graham,  long  an 
elder,  and  Humphrey  Hunter,  minister,  of  the  churches 
of  Unity  and  <b>-hcn.  Of  this  number  also  was  Fran- 
cis (afterward  Rev.  Dr.)  Cummins,  then  a  student  at 


236  HISTORY   OF    PRESBYTERIANISM. 

"Queen's  Museum,"  in  Charlotte,  and  like  the  others, 
in  full  sympathy  with  the  proceedings  of  the  conven- 
tion. 

Among  the  sufferers  by  the  war,  the  Presbyterian 
clergy  held  a  distinguished  rank.  By  the  British  and 
Tories  they  were  singled  out  for  vengeance,  and  upon 
the  head  of  one  was  set  a  price  of  two  hundred  pounds. 
McAden  was  fast  verging  to  the  grave;  but  he  and  his 
congregation  suffered  severely;  and  scarcely  had  his 
ashes  been  laid  in  the  grave,  before  devastation  sj)read 
over  the  scene  of  his  labors.  Two  weeks  after  his  death, 
the  British  encamped  in  the  yard  of  Bed-House  Church, 
where  he  had  preached,  searched  his  dwelling,  plun- 
dered and  destroyed  his  papers,  and  carried  desolation 
through  the  region.  James  Tate,  a  staunch  Whig,  was 
forced  to  flee  from  Wilmington  to  escape  the  grasp  of 
British  power.  Thomas  H.  McCaule  was  a  zealous 
patriot,  and  his  field  of  labor  was  in  the  track  of  the 
hostile  armies  :  he  was  by  the  side  of  General  Davidson 
when  the  latter  was  shot  off  from  his  horse.  The  congre- 
gations of  Eno,  Hawfields,  Buffalo,  and  Alamance,  were 
the  scenes  of  the  plundering^  of  Cornwallis's  army. 
The  sufferings  and  privations  which  they  endured 
were  fearful.  The  catalogue  of  outrage  would  fill  a 
volume.  The  house  of  Dr.  Caldwell  was  broken  open, 
his  library  and  valuable  papers  destroyed,  and  his  pro- 
perty stolen,  while  he,  watched  as  a  felon,  spent  night 
after  night  in  the  solitudes  of  the  forest.  Many  an 
effort  was  made  to  draw  him  from  his  hiding-place. 
His  house  was  watched ;  sudden  visits  were  made  to 
surprise  him;  but,  eluding  all  the  arts  of  his  enemies, 
he  escaped  their  hands. 

Such  a  state  of  things  could  not  but  be  sorely  disas- 
trous to  the  churches.  Attention  was  diverted  from 
religion  to  the  discussion  of  political  questions.  The 
community  was  rent  into  embittered  parties  by  civil 


THE    CAROLINAS.  237 

feuds.  The  ravages  as  wel]  as  the  license  of  war  pro- 
duced desperation  and  excited  to  reprisals;  morality 
was  at  a  Low  ebb j  congregations  were  scattered,  and 
the  seed  of  thai  infidelity  which  at  a  later  period 
ravaged  the  land  was  now.  in  part,  sown. 

With  the  return  of  peace  the  prospecl  brightened  : 
the  congregations  could  assemble  again,  with  none  to 
molest  or  make  afraid;  the  pastors  could  and  did  re- 
sume  their  duties,  and  once  more  regularly  occupied 
their  pulpits.  But,  before  religion  could  fairly  regain 
the  ground  it  had  lost,  there  was  to  be  another  con- 
flict, but  one  not  waged  with  carnal  weapons.  Infi- 
delity was  to  fall  before  the  bold  reproof  of  a  faithful 
ministry  and  the  wonderful  outpouring  of  the  Divine 
Spirit. 

The  Presbyterian  Church  in  the  Carolinas  showed 
itself  from  the  first  a  fast  friend  of  education.  The 
pioneer  laborers  deeply  felt  the  necessity  not  only  of 
giving  an  impulse  to  the  general  intelligence,  but  of 
training  up  an  educated  ministry.  They  perceived 
clearly  the  necessity  of  providing  for  the  enlarged  de- 
mands of  an  extensive  and  still  extending  missionary 
field.  Hence,  wherever  a  pastor  was  located,  there 
was  in  connection  with  his  congregation  a  classical 
school.  This  was  the  case  at  Sugar  Creek,  Poplar 
Tent,  Centre,  Bethany,  Buffalo,  Thyatira,  Grove,  Wil- 
mington, and  the  churches  served  by  Patillo  in  Orange 
and  Granville. 

The  oldest  of  these  was  under  the  care  of  Joseph 
Alexander,  at  Sugar  Creek  J  and  here  a  large  number 
of  ministers  received  their  classical  education.  The 
prejudices  of  George  11 1,  denied  it  a  charter,  for  it  was 
in  the  hands  of  Presbyterian  Whigs.  Bui  "Queen's 
Museum"  flourished  without  a  charter,  and  the  debates 
preceding  the  Mecklenburg  Declaration  were  held  in 
its  hall.     It  was  but  a  fitting  tribute  to  its  usefulness 


238  HISTORY    OF    PRESBYTERIANISM. 

and  promise,  when  the  Legislature  of  North  Carolina, 
in  1777,  chartered  the  institution,  under  the  name  of 
Liberty  Hall  Academy.  It  was  entirely  under  Pres- 
b}Tterian  direction,  and  under  the  supervision  of  Orange 
Presbytery.  The  Eev.  Alexander  (afterward  Dr.) 
McWhorter,  of  Newark,  was  solicited  to  take  charge 
of  it;  but  his  residence  was  only  temporary,  and  the 
pre-eminence  of  Liberty  Hall  as  supplying  the  place 
of  a  college  for  the  South  was  transferred  to  JMount 
Zion  College,  Winnsborough,  S.C.,  over  which  Thomas 
H.  McCaule  presided  for  several  years. 

Classical  schools  of  a  high  order,  under  Presbyte- 
rian direction,  were  more  numerous  after  the  Revolu- 
tionary War.  Dr.  Caldwell  continued  his  in  Guilford 
till  his  death.  Dr.  McCorkle  sustained  one  in  Eowan, 
and  afterward  in  Salisbury.  Dr.  Robinson  sustained 
the  one  at  Poplar  Tent,  with  some  intermissions, 
till  near  the  close  of  his  life.  Dr.  Wilson  was  very 
successful  at  Rocky  Hill,  and  Dr.  Hall  at  Bethany. 
There  was  also  a  nourishing  one,  under  William  Bing- 
ham, in  Chatham,  and  one  in  Burke.  Providence, 
Grove,  and  Fayetteville,  enjoyed  a  succession  of  clas- 
sical teachers. 

With  the  establishment  of  the  University  of  the 
State,  at  Chapel  Hill,  in  1789,  the  preponderance  of 
classical  schools  ceased  to  be  so  entirely  on  the  side  of 
the  Presbyterian  Church.  Yet  at  a  later  period  the 
cause  was  taken  up  by  them  again,  with  revived  energy, 
and  with  results  that  nobly  justified  the  effort. 

As  we  have  already  seen,  the  first  attempt  to  colo- 
nize South  as  well  as  North  Carolina  resembled  in  its 
origin  an  investment  of  capital  by  a  company  of  land- 
jobbers.1  The  proprietaries  furnished  the  emigrants 
with  means  to  embark,  but  sent  out  with  them  their 

1  Bancroft,  ii.  166. 


THE    CAROLINAS.  239 

own  commercial  agent,  and  undertook  the  manage- 
ment of  all  commercial  transactions.  As  mighl  have 
been  expected,  the  coIodj  wsub  a  scene  of  turbulence, 
and  industry  was  unproductive,  till  the  old  Constitu- 
tions were  abandoned  and  the  colonists  learned  to  rely 
on  their  own  energy. 

The  first  band  of  emigrants  to  South  Carolina  set 
sail  in  January,  1670.  The  period,  in  England,  was 
one  of  sharp  persecution  for  Dissenters.  Eight  years 
before,  the  terrible  Act  of  Conformity  had  expelled 
nearly  two  thousand  ministers  from  their  parishes  and 
pulpits.  Cavalier  statesmen  were  unscrupulous  enough 
to  take  advantage  of  the  fruits  of  their  own  bigoted 
counsels.  In  the  first  band,  along  with  the  commercial 
agent,  was  William  Sayle,  the  proprietary  Governor, 
"probably  a  Presbyterian,"  who,  more  than  twenty 
years  before,  had  attempted  to  plant  an  "  Eleutheria" 
in  the  isles  of  the  Gulf  of  Florida. 

The  emigrants  had  hardly  landed  before  they  insti- 
tuted a  polity  on  a  liberal  basis.  Eepresentative  gov- 
ernment was  established,  and  continued  to  be  che- 
rished. It  was  in  vain  that  Locke  theorized  or 
Shaftesbury  speculated.  The  Utopia  of  their  dreams 
was  not  to  be  realized.  It  was  not  long  before  Dutch 
enterprise  offered  the  colonists  the  luxury  of  cargoes 
of  slaves.  From  the  banks  of  the  Hudson,  lured  by 
stories  of  the  fertility  of  the  soil,  came  an  unlooked- 
for  accession  to  the  population.  In  little  more  than  a 
year  after  the  arrival  of  the  first  colonists,  two  ships 
with  Dutch  emigrants  from  New  York  arrived,  and 
these  wTere  soon  followed  by  others  with  their  country- 
men from  Holland.  Even  Charles  II.  provided  at  his 
own  expense — a  munificence  the  more  marked  for  its 
isolation,  and  perhaps  designed  to  manifest  his  sym- 
pathy with  Carolina  rather  than  Now  England — two 
small  vessels,  to  transport  to  Carolina  a  few  foreign 


240  HISTORY    OF    PRESBYTEUIANISM. 

Protestants.  But  the  most  considerable  emigration 
was  from  England.  The  prospect  of  immunity  from 
the  molestation  of  informers  and  acts  against  conven- 
ticles and  Non-Conformity,  tempted  Dissenters  to  a 
colony  where  their  worship  would  be  tolerated  and 
their  rights  respected.  A  company  of  them  from 
Somersetshire  were  conducted  to  Charleston  by  Joseph 
Drake,  brother  of  the  gallant  admiral,  and  the  fortune 
which  the  latter  had  acquired  was  employed  to  plant 
South  Carolina  with  a  people  who  dreaded  the  evils 
of  oppression  and  the  prospect  of  a  Popish  successor 
to  the  throne. 

The  condition  of  Scotland,  likewise,  impelled  not  a 
few  to  project  a  settlement  in  Carolina.  But  a  com- 
paratively small  number,  however,  under  the  lead  of 
Lord  Cardross,  who  soon  returned,  crossed  the  Atlan- 
tic. A  colony  of  Irish  under  Ferguson  received  a 
hearty  welcome,  and  were  soon  merged  among  the 
other  colonists.  More  important,  however,  for  a  short 
period  at  least,  was  the  accession  to  the  population 
from  the  exiled  Huguenots.  The  French  king  essayed 
to  torment  them  into  conversion,  but  he  only  tor- 
mented them  out  of  the  kingdom;  and  not  a  few  found 
their  way  to  the  shores  of  South  Carolina.  Here  were 
fugitives  from  Languedoc  and  Saintonge  and  Bor- 
deaux, from  Northern  and  Southern  France, — Calvinist 
Protestants  seeking  the  shelter  which  the  worldly 
policy  of  High-Church  statesmen  extended  to  the  ad- 
herents'of  every  creed. 

At  an  early  period,  also,  the  population  of  South 
Carolina  received  into  its  bosom  a  Puritan  element 
from  New  England.  Although  by  the  Charter  of  the 
State  the  Church  of  England  was  the  only  one  legally 
recognized,  yet  it  contained  provisions  favorable  to 
other  creeds.  The  Colony,  though  founded  by  bigoted 
Churchmen,   was    governed    by  "  Dissenters."     Blako 


THE    CAROLINAS.  2-11 

was  a  Presbyterian,  and  Axchdale  a  Quaker.*  There 
were  also  in  the  colony  "  godly  Christians,  both  pre- 
pared for  and  longing  alter  the  edifying  ordinances 
of  the  gospel." 

The  first  from  abroad  to  respond  to  their  appeal  was 
Joseph  Lord,  of  Charlestown,  Mass.,  who,  four  years 
before,  had  graduated  at  Harvard,  and  had  since  been 
teaching  at  Dorchester,  and  studying  theology  with 
the  pastor  of  the  church.2  On  the  22d  of  October, 
1695,  those  who  offered  to  go  with  him  were  embodied 
in  a  church,  over  which  he  was  ordained  pastor.3  From 
the  churches  of  Boston,  Milton,  Newton,  Charlestown, 
and  Eoxbury,  came  pastors  and  delegates  to  assist  in  the 
services  at  the  gathering  of  this  little  flock,  and  "  to 
encourage  the  settlement  of  churches  and  the  promo- 
tion of  religion  in  the  Southern  plantations."  In  little 
more  than  a  month  the  company  were  ready  to  embark; 
and  their  faith  and  ardor  did  not  abate  at  the  prospect 
of  separation  from  old  associations.  The  parting  scene 
was  solemnized  by  the  holy  services  of  religion.  Their 
former  pastor,  Mr.  Danforth,  preached  "  a  most  affec- 
tionate and  moving  valedictory."  On  the  5th  of  De- 
cember, the  colony — a  whole  church — set  sail,  and  for 
the  first  time  New  England  sent  forth  missionaries 
beyond  her  bounds.     For  a  time  the  voyage  was  bois- 

1  Graham's  History  of  North  America,  ii.  167. 

2  Graham  (History  of  North  America,  ii.  170)  says,  "At  the  close 
of  the  seventeenth  century,  there  were  only  three  edifices  for  divine 
worship  erected  within  the  Southern  province,  containing  re- 
spectively an  Episcopal,  a  Presbyterian,  and  a  Quaker  congregation, 
and  all  of  them  situated  in  the  town  of  Charleston.  Throughout 
all  the  rest  of  the  province  there  were  neither  institutions  for  public 
worship,  nor  schools  for  education." 

It  is  evident  that  he  overlooked  his  own  statement  (p.  1GG)  of  tho 
settlement  which,  just  before  the  close  of  the  century,  had  be*>u 
made  at  Dorchester  by  the  New  England  emigrants. 

»  Am.  Quar.  Reg.,  Aug.  1841. 

Vol.  I.— 21 


242  HISTORY    OF    PRESBYTERIANISM. 

terous  and  unpleasant,  and  it  was  fifteen  days  before 
they  landed  in  Carolina.  Following  the  course  of  the 
Ashley  Eiver,  they  found  on  its  northeasterly  bank, 
about  twenty  miles  from  Charleston,  a  rich  piece  of  land, 
whose  virgin  soil  and  whose  stately  woodlands,  with 
their  interlacing  vines  and  evergreen  misletoe  and  dra- 
pery-of  moss,  were  well  adapted  to  their  purposes,  and 
which  they  immediately  selected  as  their  future  home, 
giving  to  it,  in  memory  of  their  native  place,  the  name 
of  Dorchester.  Here,  on  February  2,  1696,  "  they 
raised  their  grateful  Ebenezer,"  by  celebrating,  for  the 
first  time  in  Carolina,  the  sacrament  of  the  Lord's 
Supper. 

Mr.  Lord  remained  with  this  people  for  more  than 
twenty  years.  Hugh  Fisher  was  his  successor;  and, 
upon  his  death,  John  Osgood,  a  native  of  the  colony 
(Dorchester),  was  ordained  (1734-5).  In  1754,  the 
church  mostly  removed,  with  their  pastor,  to  Midway, 
Georgia. 

At  Charleston,  also,  beside  the  Huguenot  Church, 
(1686),  originating  with  the  expulsion  of  Protestants 
from  France,  by  the  revocation  of  the  Edict  of  Nantes, 
there  was,  as  early  as  1690,  a  meeting-house  for  a 
congregation  (known,  till  1730,  indiscriminately  as 
Presbyterian,  Congregational,  and  Independent)  of 
which  Benjamin  Pierpont  (1691-1696-7)  was  pastor, 
and  whose  successors  were  Mr.  Adams,1  and  John 
Cotton,  son  of  the  Boston  minister.2  This  at  first  may 
have  embraced  alike  settlers  from  Scotland  and  from 

1  Am.  Quar.  Reg.,  Aug.  1841. 

2  Graham  (History  of  North  America,  ii.  167)  says,  "In  the  year 
1698,  he  [Blake]  had  the  satisfaction  to  see  John  Cotton,  a  son  of 
tne  celebrated  minister  of  Boston,  remove  from  Plymouth,  in  New 
England,  to  Charleston,  in  South  Carolina,  where  he  gathered  a 
church  and  enjoyed  a  short,  but  happy  and  successful,  ministry." 
This  must  be  a  mistake.     The  statement  of  the  American  Quarterly 


THE    CAUOLINAS.  243 

New  England.  But  the  two  elements  were  not  alto- 
gether congen  ial,  and  in  1730  the  Scotch  demanded 
an  organization  of  their  own.1  Its  germ  was  found 
in  the  secession  of  twelve  families  from  the  old 
Church. 

Up  to  the  close  of  the  seventeenth  century,  all  de- 
nominations had  enjoyed  an  equal  freedom.  The  law 
favored  none  at  the  expense  of  others.  But  in  1703  a 
the  Governor,  Sir  Nathaniel  Johnson,  as  if  in  concert 
with  Lord  Corn  bury  at  i^ew  York,  determined  to  in- 
troduce into  the  colony  the  system  which  Dissenters 
had  learned  to  regard  with  well-grounded  jealousy. 
By  skilful  arrangements,  and  through  elections  at 
wrhich  it  is  said  that  the  most  despicable  classes  of  the 
population  were  allowed  to  vote,  a  legislature  was 
secured  favorable  to  the  Governor's  design.     By  a  close 

Register,  taken  from  a  Charleston  publication,  is  doubtless  more 
reliable.     See,  however,  Sprague,  i.  29. 

1  Dr.  Smythe,  in  his  History  of  the  Second  Presbyterian  Church  of 
Charleston,  says,  "  As  early  as  1690,  the  Presbyterians,  in  conjunc- 
tion with  the  Independents,  formed  a  church  in  Charleston,  which 
continued  in  this  united  form  for  forty  years.  During  this  period, 
two  of  their  ministers,  the  Rev.  Messrs.  Stobo  and  Livingston, 
were  Presbyterians,  and  connected  with  the  Charleston  Presbytery. 
After  the  death  of  the  latter,  twelve  families  seceded,  and  formed  a 
Presbyterian  Church  on  the  model  of  the  Church  of  Scotland. 
Their  building  was  -erected  in  1731,  on  the  site  of  the  present,  which 
was  completed  in  1814." 

Dr.  Howe,  in  his  Historical  Discourse,  states — evidently  a  mistake 
— that  the  date  of  the  founding  of  the  First  Presbyterian  Church 
of  Charleston  was  1741.  It  should  have  been  ten  years  earlier. 
That  Stobo  was  the  successor  of  Cotton  in  charge  of  the  same 
church,  I  see  no  reason  to  doubt.  Cotton  died  (Sprague,  i.  29) 
Sept.  8,  1699,  and  Stobo,  who  brought  no  colonists  or  congregation 
with  him,  arrived  in  1700.  What  more  natural  than  that  under 
Stobo,  himself  a  Presbyterian,  the  Independents  and  Presbyterians 
should  unite? 

2  Hewatt's  Sauth  Carolina,  i.  107,  172. 


244  HISTORY    OF   PRESBYTERIANISM. 

vote  it  was  enacted  that  the  Episcopal  should  be  the 
estaVlished  Church,  and  that  it  should  be  supported 
by  a  tax  on  all  classes  of  citizens  alike,  including  Dis- 
senters, who  were  likewise  deprived  of  all  civil  rights.1 
The  colony  was  divided  into  ten  parishes,  and  arrange- 
ments were  made  to  secure  the  necessary  number  of 
missionaries  from  England. 

The  measure  met  with  strong  opposition.  The  Pres- 
byterians exclaimed  against  it,  and  the  Quakers  were 
not  silent.  John  Archdale  told  the  Governor  that  the 
Dissenters  had  not  forgotten  the  hardships  to  which 
they  had  been  subjected  in  England  in  consequence  of 
acts  of  conformity.  He  asserted  boldly  that,  under  the 
Constitution  of  the  colony,  freedom  of  conscience  was 
the  birthright  of  every  citizen.  Others  united  with 
him  in  his  remonstrance.  But  opposition  was  vain. 
Despairing  of  redress,  some  of  those  who  complained 
of  what  they  regarded  as  a  tyrannical  measure,  and  a 
violation  of  plighted  faith,  prepared  to  leave  the  colony 
and  remove  to  Pennsylvania,  and  a  portion  of  them 
actually  removed;2  others  determined  to  apply  to  the 
proprietaries  for  redress.  The  citizens  of  Colleton 
county  united  in  a  petition,  which  they  sent  to  England 
by  the  hands  of  one  of  their  number,  Joseph  Boone. 
On  reaching  London,  he  found  the  prospect  before  him 
far  from  encouraging.  The  proprietaries  were  not 
disposed  to  annul  the  obnoxious  measure;  but  the 
London  merchants  united  with  Boone  in  urging  the 
petition,  and  it  was  carried  before  the  House  of  Lords. 
Their  action  was  favorable,  and  there  was  a  prospect 
that  the  prayer  of  the  petitioners  for  relief  would  be 
granted.  The  queen  issued  an  order  declaring  the 
obnoxious  laws  to  be  null  and  void;  but  her  promise  to 
issue  a  process  against  the  provincial  charter  was  never 

1  Simms's  South  Carolina,  78.  2  Hewat.t,  i.  178. 


THE    CAROLINAS.  245 

fulfilled.    The  Episcopal  Church  was  established  in  the 
colony.     Dissenters  were  taxed  for  its  support,  and  at 

the  same  time,  if  they  wished  to  enjoy  their  own  form 
of  worship,  were  forced  by  their  private  contributions 

to  erect  churches  and  sustain  ministers 

One  of  the  leading  opponents  of  the  Governor's  pro- 
ject— along  with  Archdale — was  Archibald  Stobo,  the 
pastor  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  in  Charleston, — "a 
survivor  of  the  ministers  who  accompanied  the  Scotch 
emigrants  to  New  Caledonia."  He  had  been  a  resi- 
dent of  the  city  since  the  year  1700,1  and  at  the  time 
when  the  act  creating  the  Establishment  was  passed, 
he  exerted  a  powerful  and  commanding  influence.  He 
was  possessed  of  eminent  ability, — of  "  talents  which 
render  a  minister  conspicuous  and  respected/'2  To  a 
mind  well  stored  with  the  treasures  of  learning,  and 
an  excellent  capacity,  he  united  an  uncommon  activity 
and  diligence  in  the  discharge  of  his  appropriate  duties. 
Naturally  averse  to  Episcopal  jurisdiction,  and  with  an 
inveterate  Scotch  antipathy  to  that  prelatic  tyranny 
which  had  inflicted  such  persecution  on  his  native 
land,  he  wras  not  conciliated  by  the  designs  in  favor  of 
Episcopal  supremacy  which  he  now  witnessed  in  his 
adopted  country.  From  the  first  he  met  the  proposed 
innovation  with  unqualified  opposition;  and  his  in- 
fluence was  powerfully  felt.  No  minister  in  the  colony 
had  engrossed  so  universally  the  public  favor  and 
esteem,  and  no  one  rendered  himself  more  obnoxious 
to  the  disfavor  of  the  government.  Malignant  arts 
were  employed  against  him,  and  the  Governor  resorted 
to  the  weapons  of  slander  to  break  dowTn  and  to  ruin 
his  influence. 

The  effect  of  the  measure  which  he  so  strenuously 
opposed  was  disastrous  to  the  Presbyterian  churches. 


Bprague,  iii.  251.  2  Hewutt,  i.  178. 

21* 


246  HISTORY    OF    PRESBYTERIANISM. 

The  English  Society  for  the  Propagation  of  the  Gospel 
sent  twelve  Episcopal  missionaries  to  the  colony,  and 
their  support  was  largely  secured  from  the  public 
treasury.  Spacious  churches  were  built  and  paid  for 
by  taxes,  which  fell  heavily  on  Dissenters.  The  state 
patronage  extended  to  the  Episcopal  Church  soon 
secured  it  ascendency  also  in  numbers  and  strength. 
The  friends  of  religious  liberty  in  the  Assembly  were 
reduced  in  numbers,  and  the  energy  and  art  of  the 
Governor  bore  down  all  opposition.  Large  numbers 
of  the  children  of  Dissenters  were  led  to  abandon  the 
worship  of  their  fathers  and  connect  themselves  with 
the  State  Church,  against  which  the  prejudices  of  the 
community  were  no  longer  directed.1 

But  Stobo  still  maintained  his  ground.  By  great 
diligence  and  ability,  he  preserved  a  number  of  fol- 
lowers ;  and,  in  spite  of  desertions,  his  congregation 
was  strengthened  by  the  accession  of  emigrants  from 
Scotland  and  Ireland.  The  Presbyterians  composed 
yet  "  a  considerable  party  in  the  province,"  and  sus- 
tained their  own  forms  and  ordinances  of  worship.  At 
length,  encouraged  by  help  from  Scotland,  Stobo  united 
with  two  other  ministers — Fisher  and  Witherspoon — 
in  efforts  to  promote  the  interests  of  the  Presbyterian 
Church  in  the  colony.  They  "  associated"2  themselves 
for  this  purpose,  and  probably  united  in  forming  a 
Presbytery.3     Churches  were  gathered,4  and  houses  of 

1  Hewatt,  ii.  51.  2  Hewatt. 

3  The  date  of  this  is  not  given ;  but  it  must  have  been  before 
1734. 

*  Dr.  Smythe,  in  his  History  of  the  Second  Presbyterian  Church 
of  Charleston,  states  that  the  churches  belonging  to  the  Presby- 
tery were  those  of  Wiltown,  Pon  Pon,  St.  Thomas's,  Stoney  Creek, 
Salt-catchers,  Black  Mingo,  the  original  and  first  incorporated 
church  of  Williamsburg,  Charleston,  Edisto,  and  the  church  of 
John  and  Wadmalaw  Islands. 


THE   CAROLIKA&  247 

worship  erected,  a1  Wiltown  and  "  three  of  the  Mari- 
time Islands," and  subsequently  at  Jacksonbupg,  Indian- 
town,  Pon  Pon,  or  WalterboFeugh,  Port  Royal,  und 
Williamsburg.1 

In  1710,  a  letter  from  South  Carolina,  published  in 
London.2  stated  that  there  were  in  the  colony  five 
churches  of  British  Presbyterians.  Some  of  these 
may  subsequently  have  become  extinct.  The  church 
on  Edisto  Island3  dates  tioni  1717;  that  of  Pon  Pon,  or 
Walterliorough,  of  which  Stobo,  on  leaving  Charleston, 
became  pastor,  from  1728  ;  those  on  John's  and  James's 
Islands  from  1734  or  1735;  that  of  Wiltown  was  many 
years  anterior;  while  the  Independent  Presbyterian 
Church  of  Stoney  Creek  dates  from  1743.  The  five 
early  churches  must  have  been  those  of  Charleston, 
Dorchester,  perhaps  Wiltown  or  Edisto,  and  one  or 
more  on  the  Maritime  Islands. 

The  pastors  were  obtained  for  the  most  part,  if  not 
in  every  instance,  from  Scotland.  The  Presbytery 
regarded  itself  as  a  portion  of  the  Scotch  Kirk,  and 
looked  to  it  for  a  supply  for  its  pulpits.  The  presence 
in  the  colony  of  "  ignorant"  and  "  fanatic"  men  who 
assumed  the  right  to  preach,  but  who  were  regarded 
by  the  members  of  the  Presbytery  in  the  light  of 
ranters,  made  them  jealous  as  to  the  character  of 
those  whom  they  admitted  to  their  pulpits  or  to  the 
care  of  their  vacant  churches.  In  full  sympathy,  as 
we  have  reason  to  believe,  with  the  Moderates  of  the 
Church  of  Scotland,  it  would  not  have  been  strange  if 

1  Williamsburg   was    founded    by  a  colony  of   Irish    in    1734. 

Simms'a  South  Carolina,  132. 

2  Dr.  Howe's  Historical  Discourse. 

3  In  1705,  Henry  Brown  obtained  a  grant  for  three  hundred  acres 
of  land,  which  in  1717  he  conveyed  to  certain  persons  "in  trust 
for  the  benefit  of  a  Presbyterian  clergyman  in  Edisto  Island." 
• — llmhje,  i.  58. 


248  HISTORY    OF    PRESBYTERIANISM. 

their  antipathy  to  the  revivalists  of  the  New  side — who 
may  have  penetrated  into  what  the  former  considered 
their  exclusive  domain — should  have  led  them  to  class 
the  intruders  with  ignorant  fanatics. 

The  successors  of  Stobo  and  Livingston,1  Alexander 
Hewatt  (1763-1776)  and  George  Buist  (1793-1808), 
were,  like  himself,  natives  of  Scotland,  and  were  there 
educated  and  ordained.  At  the  request  of  the  Church, 
addressed  to  ministers  in  that  country,  the  last  two, 
at  least,  were  sent  out  to  supply  the  pulpit.  Hewatt 
was  a  man  of  learning,  ability,  and  no  little  of  kindly 
feeling.  To  his  congregation  he  ever  remained  strongly 
attached.  Among  them  for  twelve  years  he  continued 
his  labors,  till  the  near  prospect  of  war  with  the 
mother-country  led  him,  as  is  supposed,  to  return  to 
Scotland.  In  1779,  he  published  in  London  his  History 
of  South  Carolina. 

His  successor,  Buist,  was  sent  out,  at  the  request  of 
the  Church,  by  Principal  Eobertson  and  Dr.  Blair,  of 
Scotland.  They  pronounced  him  from  their  own 
acquaintance  to  be  "  a  good  scholar,  an  instructive 
preacher,  well  bred,  and  of  a  good  natural  temper." 
The  recommendation  is  characteristic  of  the  mode- 
ratism  of  its  authors.  Nor  did  he  on  his  arrival  in  this 
country  belie   the   assurance    given    in  regard   to   his 

1  Stobo  (Dr.  Howe's  Historical  Discourse)  was  succeeded  at 
Charleston  by  Livingston  ;  or  rather  Livingston,  I  suspect,  took 
charge  of  the  Scotch  Church  when  formed  in  1730,  and  Stobo  with- 
drew from  Charleston  to  one  of  the  country  churches.  The  labors 
of  the  latter  continued  until  as  late  at  least  as  1740,  in  which  year 
the  slave  insurrection  took  place.  When  the  intelligence  of  it 
reached  Wilt  own,  he  was  preaching  at  the  church,  whither  the  men, 
according  to  custom,  had  come  armed.  To  this  fact  the  prompt 
and  successful  suppression  of  the  insurrection  was  due.  How 
much  longer  Stobo  lived,  we  have  not  the  means  to  determine. 

Howe  and  Smyth e  both  speak  of  Livingston  as  Stobo's  successor  ; 
but  the  fact  is  probably  as  stated  above. 


THE    CAROLINAS.  249 

qualifications.  ITe  was  a  man  of  original  gonitis,  an 
eminent  classical  scholar,  and  an  impressive  preacher. 
He  took  charge  of  the  church  in  1793,  and  in  1805 
was  appointed  Principal  of  the  Charleston  College,-*- 
a  post  for  which  he  was  eminently  fitted.  It  was 
during  his  pastorate  (1805),  and  not  improbably  at  his 
instance,  that  the  Presbytery  with  which  he  was  con- 
nected petitioned  to  be  received  by  the  General  Assem- 
bly.1 They  were  not  disposed,  however,  to  unite  them- 
selves with  the  Synod  of  the  Carolinas.  Their  sym- 
pathies, if  fairly  represented  by  men  like  lie  watt  and 
Buist,  whom  the  moderates  of  the  Church  of  Scotland 
could  commend,  were  not  very  strongly  in  the  direc- 
tion of  the  revival  in  which  the  churches  of  the  Synod 
had  so  recently  and  so  largely  shared.  The  petition 
was  one  which  the  Synod,  therefore,  for  very  obvious 
reasons,  opposed.  They  drew  up  a  remonstrance  (Oct. 
1805)  to  the  Assembly  against  the  reception  of  a  Pres- 
bytery which  declined  to  unite  itself  first  with  the 
Synod  within  whose  bounds  it  properly  belonged,  and 
pronounced  the  proposed  measure  unconstitutional  and 
reflecting  upon  the  Synod. 

Here  the  matter  rested  until  1811.  In  that  year  the 
Presbytery  renewed  its  request  to  be  united  with  the 
General  Assembly.     The  prayer  of  the  petitioners  was 

1  The  Presbytery  of  South  Carolina  received  quite  a  number  of 
members  from  New  England  and  the  Presbyterian  Church  long 
before  its  connection  with  the  Assembly.  William  Richardson,  in 
1760,  was  dismissed  from  New  York  Presbytery  to  South  Carolina 
Presbytery.  In  1768,  James  Latta,  from  Philadelphia  Presbytery, 
united  with  the  same  body.  In  1770,  John  Malt  by,  of  New  York 
Presbytery,  also  united  with  it.  In  1768,  Dr.  McWhorter  wa9 
appointed  by  the  Synod  to  correspond  with  the  South  Carolina 
Presbytery;  and  in  1770  the  latter  body  proposed  to  unite  with 
the  Synod.  The  troubles  of  the  Revolution  doubtless  interfered 
with  the  execution  of  the  project.  See  Synod's  Miuutes,  3U7,  378, 
408-9. 


250  HISTORY   OF    PRESBYTERIANISM. 

granted,  but  on  such  conditions  that  the  Synod  had  no 
longer  any  reason  to  object.  These  conditions  were 
the  adoption,  by  the  members  of  Presbytery,  of  the 
Confession  of  Faith  and  Constitution  of  the  Presby- 
terian Church,  -and  a  compromise  or  union  with  the 
Presbytery  of  Harmony,  subject  to  the  review  and 
control  of  the  Synod. 


CHAPTEB   XIII. 

"  OLD    REDSTONE,"  1776-1793. 

The  treaty  of  peace  between  England  and  France 
in  1762,  opened  to  colonial  enterprise  and  immigration 
the  vast  territory  to  the  west  of  the  Alleghanies,  which 
France  had  hitherto  claimed,  and  of  which  Fort  Pitt 
was  one  of  the  defences.  Almost  immediately  settlers 
began  to  find  their  way  across  the  mountains,  and  in 
the  course  of  a  few  years  a  population  of  thousands 
had  e'xtended  the  frontiers  of  civilization  to  the  vicinity 
of  the  Ohio.  The  emigrants  came  mainly  from  Eastern 
Pennsylvania,  Virginia,  and  the  North  of  Ireland.1 
A  large  proportion  of  them  were  Presbyterians,  bap- 
tized and  brought  up  in  the  bosom  of  the  Church,  and 
some  of  them,  before  their  emigration,  members  of  its 
communion.  For  the  most  part,  they  were  a  bold  and 
hardy  race.  Only  strong  men,  physically  and  morally, 
would  have  braved  the  hardships  they  freely  encoun- 
tered,— the  hardships  not  only  of  the  pioneer  settler, 
but  those  of  danger  from  Indian  hostilities. 

Almost  at  the  same  time  that  the  preliminaries  of 

1  Old  Redstone,  p.  52. 


OLD   REDSTONE,    1776-1793.  251 

peace  were  signed  at  Fontainebleau, — in  fact,  only 
thirteen  days  afterward, — the  "  Corporation  for  poor 
and  distressed  Presbyterian  ministers"  agreed  to  ap- 
point some  of  their  members  to  wait  on  the  Synod  at 
its  next  meeting,  and  in  their  name  request  "that  mis- 
sionaries might  be  sent  to  the  distressed  frontier  in- 
habitants, report  their  distresses,  learn  what  new 
congregations  were  forming/'  what  was  necessary  to 
promote  the  spread  of  the  gospel  among  them,  and 
discover  wThat  opportunities  there  might  be  of  mission- 
ary work  among  the  Indian  tribes.1  Messrs.  Charles 
Beatty  and  John  Brainerd — brother  of  the  missionary 
— were  accordingly  appointed,  and  provision  was  made 
for  their  absence  for  several  months.  But  the  whole 
design  of  the  mission  wTas  frustrated  by  the  breaking 
out  of  the  Indian  War.  French  hostility,  no  longer 
open  and  avowed,  still  instigated  its  former  savage 
allies  to  the  work  of  vengeance.  The  whole  country 
west  of  Shippensburg  wTas  ravaged.  Houses,  barns, 
corn,  hay,  and  every  thing  combustible,  were  burned. 
The  wrretched  inhabitants,  surprised  at  their  labor,  at 
their  meals,  or  in  their  beds,  were  massacred  with  the 
utmost  cruelty  and  brutality,  and  those  of  them  who 
escaped  might  almost  envy  the  fate  of  those  who  had 
fallen.  Overwhelmed  by  the  common  calamity,  terri- 
fied by  danger,  reduced  by  wTant  and  fatigue  to  a  state 
of  exhaustion,  famished,  shelterless,  without  the  means 
of  transportation,  their  tardy  flight  was  delayed  by 
"  fainting  women  and  weeping  children."  "  On  July 
25,  1763,  there  were  at  Shippensburg  thirteen  hundred 
and  eighty-four  poor  distressed  back  inhabitants,  many 
of  whom  were  obliged  to  lie  in  barns,  stables,  cellars, 
and  under  old  leaky  sheds,  the  dwelling-houses  being 
all  crowrded."2 


Old  Redstone,  p.  113.  3  Hist.  West.  Penn. 


252  HISTORY   OF    PRESBYTERIANISM. 

The  defeat  of  the  Indians  in  the  succeeding  autumn 
drove  them  beyond  the  Ohio,  and  for  a  time  the  settlers 
were  unmolested.  In  1766,  Mr.  Beatty,  in  conjunction 
with  Mr.  Duffield,  performed  his  Western  mission.  At 
Fort  Pitt  (Pittsburg)  he  was  invited  by  McLagan, 
chaplain  to  the  42d  Regiment,1  to  preach  to  the  gar- 
rison, while  Mr.  Duffield  preached  to  the  people,  who 
lived  "  in  some  kind  of  a  town  without  the  fort."  The 
missionaries  on  their  return  reported 2  "  that  they 
found  on  the  frontiers  numbers  of  people  earnestly  de- 
sirous of  forming  themselves  into  congregations,  and  de- 
claring their  willingness  to  exert  their  utmost  in  order 
to  have  the  gospel  among  them  •"  but  their  circum- 
stances were  "  exceedingly  distressing  and  necessi- 
tous," in  consequence  of  the  calamities  inflicted  by  the 
war.  The  westward  limit  of  their  journey  was  among 
the  Indians  on  the  Muskingum,  "one  hundred  and 
thirty  miles  beyond  Fort  Pitt."  The  prospect  of  mis- 
sions among  them  was  reported  as  encouraging,  and 
steps  were  taken  to  secure  the  services  of  two  other 
missionaries  for  the  ensuing  year.  Although  difficul- 
ties arose  to  prevent  their  going,  it  is  significant  at 
once  of  the  poverty  of  the  people  and  the  liberality 
of  the  Synod,  that  the  order  was  made  that  the  mis- 
sionaries "  take  no  money  from  the  frontier  settle- 
ments for  their  ministerial  labors  among  them." 

It  is  impossible  to  determine  how  far  the  measures 
of  the  Synod  for  mission-labor  in  Western  Pennsyl- 
vania were  carried  out  with  each  successive  year;  but 
they  were  regularly  made  at  each  annual  meeting,  and 
in  some  cases  at  least  were  successful.  The  war  of 
the  Revolution,  however,  interrupted  the  further  prose- 
cution of  the  plan  ;  and  yet  before  its  close  (1781)  Red- 
stone Presbytery  had  been  organized  on  the  field. 

i  History  of  Pit.sburg.  2  Minutes  of  Synod,  p.  375. 


OLD    REDSTONE,    1776-1793.  253 

A  very  primitive  state  of  society  was  that  which 
greeted  the  eye  and  shaped  the  experience  of  the  first 
pastors  of  the  Presbytery.  The  persons  that  com- 
posed their  congregations  were  by  no  means  dressed 
in  accordance  with  the  fashions  of  Eastern  cities.  In 
nine  cases  out  of  ten,  a  blanket  or  a  coverlet  served  as 
a  substitute  for  a  great-coat  in  winter  weather,  and  the 
worshipper  was  not  ashamed  to  wear  it.1  Deer-skin 
was  a  substitute  for  cloth  for  men  and  boys.  Every 
thing  that  was  not  brought  from  a  distance  of  more 
than  a  hundred  miles  across  the  mountains,  had  to  be 
manufactured  by  patient  industry  and  primitive  agen- 
cies. The  best  dwelling  of  the  settler  was  for  many 
years  a  log  cabin,  and  its  furniture  was  of  the  simplest 
description.  Here  and  there  a  fort  told  the  story  of 
danger  from  Indian  invasion,  and  suggested  the  hazards 
by  day  and  night  to  which  the  inhabitants  were  ex- 
posed. 

Until  1790,  it  is  not  known  that  a  church  edifice  or 
house  of  worship  was  erected  in  the  region.  Meetings 
were  held  in  the  shady  groves,  or,  for  greater  security, 
within  the  walls  of  the  forts.  They  were  attended 
sometimes  from  a  distance  of  twelve  to  sixteen  miles ; 
and  he  was  fortunate  whose  residence  enabled  him.  by 
a  walk  of  not  more  than  five  or  six,  to  enjoy  the 
regular  ordinances  of  Sabbath  worship.  In  many 
cases  every  man  came  armed.  The  guns  were  stacked, 
and  a  sentinel  was  appointed  to  sound  the  signal  of 
alarm    in    case  of  danger   from    Indian    attack.     The 

i  The  author  of  "Old  Redstone"  relates  an  anecdote  to  the  effect 
that  when  the  first  court  of  common  pleas  was  held  in  Catfish,  now 
Washington,  a  highly  respectable  citizen,  whose  presence  was 
required  as  a  magistrate,  could  not  attend  without  first  borrowing 
a  pair  of  leather  breeches  from  an  equally  respectable  neighbor, 
who  was  summoned  on  grand  jury.  The  latter  lent  them,  and, 
having  no  others,  had  to  stay  at  home. — Page  44. 

Vol.  I.— 22 


254  HISTORY    OF    PRESBYTERIANISM. 

perils  from  this  source  did  not  cease  till  Wayne's  vic- 
tory in  1794. 

The  toils  and  hardships  of  the  ministers  were  excess- 
ive. They  not  only  shared  the  lot  of  their  people  in 
respect  to  food,  clothing,  and  lodging,  but  in  their  ex- 
tended journeyings  from  place  to  place  to  preach,  ad- 
minister the  ordinances,  and  visit  their  scattered  sheep 
in  the  wilderness,  were  exposed  to  peculiar  hazards. 
Often  did  they  have  to  travel  a  distance  of  from  fifteen 
to  fifty  miles  in  order  to  discharge  their  parochial 
duties,  so  extended  were  the  fields  which  they  were 
called  to  occupy.  They  were  indeed  bishops  in  the 
primitive  sense,  and  each  had  his  diocese.  For  days 
together  they  were  absent  from  their  families.  In 
some  places  there  were  no  roads,  or  only  those  of  the 
worst  description.  "  A  blind-path,  but  seldom  used, 
must  be  followed,  when  every  neighborhood  road  to  a 
mill  or  a  smith's  shop,  being  much  more  distinct,  would 
be  almost  sure  to  mislead  them."1  Guide-boards  there 
were  none.  Bridges  had  not  yet  been  built,  and  fording- 
places  were  not  always  easy  to  be  discovered.  Yet, 
braving  all  perils,  exposed  to  heat  and  cold,  plodding 
through  the  mud  or  facing  the  storm,  they  discharged 
their  duty, — brave  in  a  heroism  not  less  noble  that  it 
was  obscure,  not  less  admirable  that  it  was  the  fruit  of 
Christian  faith  and  pastoral  fidelity. 

The  support  of  the  clergyman  was  by  no  means 
ample;  yet  two  and  sometimes  three  congregations 
were  united  to  secure  it.  Even  then  he  might  be  neces-, 
sitated  to  eke  out  his  salary  by  cultivating  a  farm,  or 
unite  thrift  with  charity  in  the  work  of  instruction. 
There  was  indeed  ample  wealth  around  him, — such  as 
it  was;  but  it  was  the  riches  of  a  fertile  soil,  and  the 
verdure  of  hill  and  valley ;  it  was  nature  herself  with 

1  Old  Redstone,  p.  133. 


OLD    REDSTONE,    1776-1793.  255 

her  mines  and  acres  waiting  for  the  hand  of  industry 
to  coin  them  into  shape  and  imprint  upon  them  the 
image  and  superscription  of  civilization  and  culture. 

But  a  richer  soil  than  that  of  the  hills  and  valleys  was 
that  which  the  laborer  in  the  Lord's  vineyard  was  called 
to  cultivate.  His  parishioners  were  by  no  means  the  mis- 
cellaneous drift-wood  which  emigration  usually  floats  off 
from  older  communities  to  new  settlements.  Among 
them  were  men  of  culture,  and  a  large  proportion  of 
them  were  characterized  by  stern  religious  principle. 
They  were  men  whose  energy  and  vigor  were  developed 
by  the  circumstances  of  their  lot,  and  wTho,  in  grappling 
with  the  forest  and  repelling  or  guarding  against  savage 
attack,  were  made  more  sagacious,  fearless,  and  self-re- 
liant. Their  outward  condition  was  far  from  enviable; 
since  for  many  years  they  underwent  severe  hardships, 
which  rendered  it  any  thing  but  Eden-like.  The  "  howl- 
ing" wilderness,  literally  so,  around  them, — the  danger 
of  starvation,  no  remote  one  at  many  times, — the  scar- 
city of  salt  and  iron, — with  roads  that  for  the  most  part 
were  mere  bridle-paths, — all  these  things  might  seem 
to  indicate  a  degraded  lot;  but  the  wilderness  did  not 
reduce  them  to  barbarism.  Their  food  might  be — often 
was — "hog  and  hominy;"  potatoes  and  pumpkins  were 
a  substitute  for  bread.  Bear's  oil  sometimes  took  the 
place  of  butter.  The  dress,  too,  might  betray  a  mix- 
ture of  an  Indian  and  a  civilized  wardrobe.  The  "  lin- 
sey-woolsey" hunting-shirt,  with  its  large  sleeves,  rude 
belt,  and  bosom  wThich  served  as  a  wallet  for  bread,  j irk, 
or  tow  for  the  rifle, — the  breeches  made  of  the  skins  of 
beasts,  or,  if  unusually  fine,  of  buckskin, — the  moccasins 
stuffed  in  cold  weather  with  deer's  hair  or  dried  leaves, 
— the  rude  furniture  of  the  log  cabin,  little  in  advance 
of  that  of  the  wigwam, — all  might  indicate  but  a  slight 
superiority  over  the  savage,  reluctantly  yielding  to  the 
encroachments  of  the  white  man.     But  beneath  this 


256  HISTORY    OF    TRESBYTERIANISM. 

coarse  exterior  beat  hearts  as  true  to  the  cause  of  free- 
dom, intelligence,  morals,  and  religion,  as  any  in  the 
world.  "A  more  intelligent,  virtuous,  and  resolute  class 
of  men  never  settled  any  country  than  the  first  settlers 
of  Western  Pennsylvania."1  They  had,  indeed,  their 
peculiarities.  Some  brought  with  them  habits  and 
associations  which  were  not  always  the  most  com- 
mendable. Their  prejudices  were  strong.  A  portion 
of  them  were  of  the  strictest  sect  of  Seceders.  They 
could  breathe  forth  railings  against  Watts's  Imitation, 
and  denounce  a  departure  from  Rouse  as  heresy.  But, 
as  a  powerful  leaven  of  the  constantly  increasing  im- 
migration, even  these  were  invaluable,  and,  as  a  whole, 
the  material  of  which  the  churches  of  Western  Penn- 
sylvania were  composed  was  of  just  that  sort  which 
the  times  and  the  emergency  demanded, — men  stern 
enough  not  only  to  retain  their  own  individuality,  but 
to  impress  it  upon  the  more  yielding  mass  accumulating 
around  them. 

The  land  was  inviting,  and  it  was  cheap.  The  State 
of  Yirginia,  assuming  a  right  to  the  territory,  sold 
large  portions  of  it  at  a  merely  nominal  price.2  "  The 
purchase-money  was  trifling  indeed, — about  ten  shil- 
lings the  hundred  acres, — and  even  that  was  not 
demanded."  The  fees  for  warrants  were  two  shillings 
and  sixpence;  and,  on  these  terms,  Yirginia  disposed  libe- 
rally of  Pennsylvania  territory, — a  proceeding  which 
resulted  in  trouble  afterward,  when  the  claims  of  the 
respective  States  came  to  be  settled,  but  for  the  time 
it  invited  immigration,  and  Western  Pennsylvania  by 
the  close  of  the  Ee volution ary  War  had  not  far  from 
twenty  thousand  inhabitants. 

The  earliest  settlements  were  of  course  in  the  vicinity 
of  Pittsburg,  and  gradually  extended  northward  toward 

i  Old  Redstone,  p.  43.  2  Ibid.  32. 


OLD    REDSTONE,    1776-1793.  257 

Luke  Erie.  "In  1765,  Pittsburg  was,  to  a  small  extent, 
regularly  laid  out.  In  1765  and  1766,  settlements  were 
made  at  Redstone  and  Turkey-foot.  Several  of  these 
were  made  by  heads  of  Presbyterian  families. v'  About 
1768,  what  is  now  Fayette  county  was  occupied  by  emi- 
grants from  Berkeley  county,  Ya.  At  nearly  the  same 
time,  a  considerable  number  of  settlers  located  on  the 
Youghiogheny,  the  Monongahela,  and  its  tributaries. 
In  1770-1,  many  Scotch-Irish  from  Bedford  and  York 
counties,  from  the  Kittatinny  Yallcy,  from  Virginia,  and 
some  directly  from  the  North  of  Ireland,  commenced 
settlements  in  Washington  county.  As  the  tide  of 
population  increased  in  volume,  and  extended  from  the 
Monongahela  to  the  Ohio,  it  was  swelled  by  contribu- 
tions from  various  sources,  yet  not  sufficient  to  change 
its  general  character. 

Until  1774,  the  settlers  were  dependent  for  gospel- 
ordinances  upon  the  missionaries  sent  out  by  the  Synod. 
This  provision  was  interrupted  by  the  difficulties  of 
distance,  Indian  hostility,  and  the  excitement  that 
heralded  the  rupture  with  the  mother-country.  It  was, 
moreover,  inadequate  to  the  necessities  of  the  field. 
But  one  after  another  of  the  ministers  at  the  East  was 
induced,  by  the  confusion  that  the  war  introduced  and 
the  appeals  presented  by  the  needy  condition  of  the 
Western  settlements,  to  remove  to  that  region.  At 
length  a  sufficient  number  had  entered  the  field  to  feel 
warranted  in  asking  for  the  erection  of  a  Presbytery. 
Their  distance  from  the  Presbyteries  with  which  they 
were  connected,  the  utter  impracticability  of  meeting 
with  them,  and  the  necessity  of  the  churches  to  which 
they  ministered,  impelled  to  the  request;  and  at  the 
meeting  of  the  Synod  in  May  (16),  1781,  the  Rev.  Messrs. 
Joseph  Smith,  John  McMillan,  James  Power,  and  Thad- 


1  Redstone,  p.  :5U. 
22* 


258  HISTORY    OF    PRESBYTERIANISM. 

dens  Dod,  were  erected,  in  accordance  with  their  peti- 
tion, into  the  Presbytery  of  Redstone,  and  their  first 
meeting  was  appointed  to  be  held  at  Laurel  Hill, 
on  the  third  Wednesday  of  September  ensuing.  The 
meeting,  however,  on  account  of  the  incursion  of  the 
savages,  was  held,  not  at  Laurel  Hill,  but  at  Pigeon 
Creek. 

Within  the  bounds  of  "  Old  Redstone,"  extending 
indefinitely  over  Western  Pennsylvania,  the  Virginia 
"  Pan-handle,"  and  the  borders  of  the  Northwestern 
Territory,  James  Power  was  the  first  settled  pastor. 
He  was  born  in  1746,  at  Nottingham,  Chester  county, 
Pa.  His  course  previous  to  entering  college  was  pro- 
bably pursued  under  John  Blair,  at  the  school  of  Fagg's 
Manor.  In  1766,  he  was  graduated  at  Princeton,  and 
in  1772  was  licensed  by  New  Castle  Presbytery. 

His  earliest  labors  as  a  missionary  were  in  Virginia. 
A  call  from  churches  in  Botetourt  county  was  extended 
to  him,  but  declined.  In  the  summer  of  1774,  he  crossed 
the  mountains,  and  spent  the  summer  in  missionary 
labors  in  Western  Pennsylvania.  The  settlements  em- 
braced in  what  are  now  Washington,  Alleghany,  West- 
moreland, and  Fayette  counties,  were  the  field  which 
he  traversed. 

Two  years  were  spent  at  the  East  before  he  returned 
to  make  this  region  his  permanent  home.  Toward 
the  close  of  1776,  he  removed  with  his  family  to  the 
scene  of  his  future  labors.  For  several  years  his  life 
was  that  of  an  active  and  energetic  itinerant  mission- 
ary. He  visited  the  new  settlements,  preaching,  among 
other  places,  at  Mount  Pleasant,  Unity,  Laurel  Hill,  and 
Dunlap's  Creek.  In  the  spring  of  1779,  he  became  the 
regular  pastor  of  Sewickley  and  Mount  Pleasant  congre- 
gations. Quiet  in  manner,  neat  in  dress,  courteous  and 
gentlemanly  in  his  whole  deportment,  with  a  memory 
of  persons  that  was  almost  fabulous,  he  was,  moreover, 


OLD    REDSTONE,    177G-I793.  259 

a  graceful  speaker  and  a  devoted  pastor.  lie  had  no 
enemies.  Parents  respected  him,  and  the  little  children 
loved  to  see  his  face.  Plain  in  speech,  earnest  but  not 
impassioned  in  address,  his  sermons  were  instructive 
and  persuasive  rather  than  vehement  or  pungent,  and 
his  influence  was  felt  throughout  the  extensive  sphere 
of  his  labors,  exerting  a  quiet  but  steady  power. 

He  had  been  two  years  in  the  Western  field  when  he 
was  joined  by  another  laborer,  whose  character  in 
several  respects  was  directly  the  reverse  of  his  own. 
This  was  Mr.  (afterward  Dr.)  John  McMillan,  like  him- 
self a  pupil  of  John  Blair,  a  graduate  of  Princeton,  and 
a  student  of  theology  under  Dr.  Eobert  Smith  at  Pequa. 
In  1776,  he  accepted  a  call  from  the  united  congrega- 
tions of  Chartiers  and  Pigeon  Creek,  and  entered  upon 
his  self-denying  and  hazardous  work.  The  cabin  in 
which  he  was  to  live,  he  found  when  he  reached  the 
place,  had  neither  roof,  chimney,  nor  floor.  The  danger 
was  such  from  the  Indians  that  he  dared  not  take  his 
family  with  him  till  1778.  Even  then,  when  he  moved 
into  his  house,  which  his  people  kindly  assisted  him  to 
prepare,  he  had  neither  bedstead,  table,  chairs,  stool,  or 
bucket.  Two  boxes  served  for  a  table,  and  two  kegs 
for  seats.  Oftentimes  his  family  had  no  bread  for  weeks 
together;  but,  content  to  dispense  with  luxuries,  they 
felt  that  it  was  enough  if  they  had  "  plenty  of  pump- 
kins, potatoes,  and  all  the  necessaries  of  life." 

As  he  set  out  upon  his  journey,  McMillan  was  enjoined 
by  Dr.  Smith  "  to  look  out  some  pious  young  men  and 
educate  them  for  the  ministry."  He  respected  the 
wisdom  of  the  injunction,  and,  until  the  academy  at 
Canonsburg  was  opened,  devoted  a  portion  of  his  time 
to  the  training  of  young  men  for  the  ministry.  Nearly 
all  of  these  became  useful,  and  some  of  them  eminent 
among  the  ministers  of  the  Presbyterian  Church.  Kot 
a  few  were   afterward   his  efficient  co-Presbyters  and 


260  HISTORY    OF    TRESBYTERIANISM. 

coadjutors.    Among  these  were  Patterson,  Porter,  Mar- 
quis, and  Hughes. 

Of  a  large  frame,  commanding  presence,  a  look  some- 
what stern,  with  decision  and  resolution  traced  in  every 
feature,  the  outward  person  was  no  unbefitting  type  of 
the  inward  man.  With  a  perfect  scorn  for  all  that  was 
fanciful  or  nice,  an  enemy  alike  to  luxury,  flattery, 
studied  ornament  of  speech,  or  studied  grace  of  man- 
ner, he  was  almost  a  Knox  in  boldness,  energy,  and 
decision.  With  a  voice  that  no  art  could  have  made 
musical,  but  of  wonderful  power;  a  vehement  and 
intense  utterance  which  carried  conviction  and  forced, 
rather  than  won,  assent,  and  with  a  concise  brevity 
and  energy  of  expression  which  presented  his  thoughts 
in  their  naked  strength,  he  was  the  man  who  could 
overawe  opposition,  and  with  whom  any  one  would 
beware  how  he  came  in  conflict.  .Repeated  revivals 
occurred  under  his  ministry,  and,  although  by  two 
years  preceded  in  his  entrance  upon  the  field  by  Mr. 
Power,  the  superior  energy  of  his  nature  placed  him 
in  the  first  rank  as  a  pioneer  missionary  of  the  Pres- 
byterian Church  west  of  the  mountains.  He  was  a 
man  of  the  stamp  which  the  times  and  the  rude  wilder- 
ness region  around  him  demanded.  His  nature  was 
cast  in  a  stern  mould,  but  it  enabled  him  to  impress 
others  without  yielding  himself.  His  theology  was  of 
the  type  of  his  instructor,  Robert  Smith,  and  his  sons, 
Samuel  Stanhope  Smith  and  John  Blair  Smith,  succes- 
sively presidents  of  Hampden-Sidney,1  and,  subsequently, 
the  first  of  Princeton  and  the  second  of  Union  College. 
His  own  soul  was  pervaded  by  its  power,  and  he  could 
not  fail  to  make  others  feel  something  of  what  he  felt 


1  The  author  of  "Old  Redstone"  says,  his  "views  on  the  subject 
of  natural  and  moral  ability  are  much  the  same  with  those  of  Dr. 
Lyman  Beecher." 


OLD   REDSTONE,    1776-1793.  2G1 

himself.  Thus  revivals  wore  not  only  favored,  hut 
expected  and  labored  for;  and  some  of  the  most  marked 
demonstrations  of  the  power  of  divine  truth  which  the 
history  of  the  Church  affords,  occurred  under  his  min- 
istry. 

McMillan  had  been  in  the  field  but  little  more  than  a 
year  when  another  laborer  arrived, — a  worthy  compeer 
in  the  great  missionary  work  in  Western  Pennsylvania. 
In  the  fall  of  1777,  the  whole  region  was  alarmed  by 
an  incursion  of  the  Indians.  Fort  Henry,  at  the  mouth 
of  Wheeling  Creek,  was  attacked,  and  the  whole  West 
for  weeks  and  months  afterward  was  alive  with  appre- 
hension of  savage  forays.  In  this  season  of  anxiety 
and  trembling,  a  young  man  of  slender  form,  black 
hair,  keen  dark  eyes,  and  sallow  complexion,  reached 
Fort  Lindley.  To  some  of  its  occupants  he  was  well 
known :  he  had  come  from  the  same  region  with  them, 
and  he  was  now  prepared  to  cast  in  his  lot  with  theirs. 
His  name  was  Thaddeus  Dod. 

His  father  was  a  native  of  Guilford,  Conn.,  and  the 
son  was  born  at  Newark,  N.J.,  March  7,  1740.  From 
early  childhood  he  was  the  subject  of  deep  religious 
impressions.  Not,  however,  till  after  he  united  with 
the  church  at  Mendham,  at  the  mature  age  of  twenty- 
four,  did  the  thought  of  preparing  for  the  ministry 
enter  his  mind.  Struggling  with  his  straitened  circum- 
stances, now  teaching,  and  now  studying,  he  succeeded 
in  securing  the  necessary  preparation  to  enter,  on  an 
advanced  standing,  at  Princeton  in  1771.  He  studied 
theology  with  Dr.  McWhorter,  of  Newark,  and  Timo- 
thy Johnes,  of  Morristown.  The  Presbytery  of  New 
York  licensed  him  to  preach,  in  1775. 

After  preaching  in  parts  of  Virginia  and  .Maryland, 
he  crossed  the  mountains  to  Western  Pennsylvania. 
Here  were  many  who  had  emigrated  years  before  from 
his  own  region  of  country, — some  who  had  been  aflflo- 


262  HISTORY    OF    PRESBYTERIANISM. 

iiated  with  him  in  the  scenes  of  the  revival  of  1764, 
when  he  united  with  the  Church.  They  invited  him  to 
settle  among  them,  assuring  him  of  a  hearty  welcome, 
and  a  support  for  himself  and  family,  if  he  would  con- 
sent to  become  their  pastor. 

It  was  not  an  enviable  post ;  but  he  did  not  feel  at 
liberty  to  decline  it.  He  preached  at  the  fort,  at 
Cook's  settlement,  and  other  places.  In  1778,  he  com- 
menced forming  congregations.  Lower  Ten-Mile  and 
Upper  Ten-Mile,  each  about  ten  miles  from  Washing- 
ton, constituted  one  church,  to  which  he  more  espe- 
cially ministered.1  Lindley,  who  gave  his  name  to  the 
fort,  was  one  of  the  eldersr — a  descendant  of  the  Puri- 
tan Francis  Lindley,  who  was  associated  with  Eobin- 
son  in  Holland  and  crossed  the  ocean  in  the  Mayflower. 
Of  the  others,  there  were  those  well  worthy  to  rank 
with  him.  In  them  the  missionary  found  friends  and 
supporters. 

It  was  not  long  before  a  revival  commenced  at  the 
fort.  In  this  most  perilous  of  the  frontier  posts, 
while  east  of  the  mountains  all  was  dark  and  discou- 
raging, the  Lord  smiled  upon  Zion.  More  than  forty 
indulged  the  Christian  hope.  It  was  a  blessed  season, 
and  the  harbinger  also  of  many  others  that  were  yet  to 
come  in  better  days. 

In  1781,  a  log  academy,  considerably  larger  than 
any  dwelling-house  in  the  region,  was  put  up  by  Mr. 
Dod's  neighbors  and  parishioners.  "  They  consisted, 
indeed,  of  many  persons  considerably  in  advance  of 
the    Scotch-Irish    in   point   of    education.     They   had 

1  A  church  was  organized  at  Ten-Mile,  August  15,  1781,  at  the 
house  of  Jacob  Cook,  consisting  of  twenty-five  members.  The  first 
sacramental  season  did  not  take  place  till  the  third  Sabbath  of 
May,  1783.  The  ordinance  was  administered  in  Daniel  Axtell's 
barn,  three  miles  north  of  Fort  Lindley. —  Wines'*  Historical  Dis- 
course, pp.  13,  14. 


OLD   REDSTONE,    1776-1793.  263 

brought  their  New  Jersey  and  New  England  tastes 
with  them."1  Of  the  academy  which  they  erected.  Mr. 
Dod  took  charge;  and  none  could  have  been  better 
fitted -for  the  post.  As  a  mathematician  he  was  almost 
unrivalled,  and  his  eminence  as  a  teacher  was  such 
that  in  1789  he  was  called  to  take  charge  of  Washing- 
ton Academy,  just  incorporated  by  the  Legislature  of 
the  State,  and  which  in  1806  was  merged  into  Washing- 
ton College. 

Few  men  have  left  behind  them  a  more  cherished 
memory  amid  the  scenes  in  which  they  labored  than 
Mr.  Dod.  Modest,  humble,  devout  in  spirit,  of  prepos- 
sessing manners,  and  of  rare  natural  and  acquired 
gifts,  he  was  a  man  to  be  at  once  respected,  reve- 
renced, and  loved.  In  his  mental  structure,  mathe- 
matical talent,  classical  taste,  and  poetic  imagination 
were  alike  combined.  His  calm  decision  and  cheer- 
ful self-denial  allowed  him  to  shrink  from  no  task  or 
peril  to  which  duty  called.  For  sixteen  years  he  was 
spared,  to  lay  deep  and  firm  the  foundations  of  the 
Church  in  the  region  which  was  honored  as  the  scene 
of  his  labors. 

He  had  been  but  a  few  months  in  this  Western  field, 
when  he  was  cheered  by  the  accession  of  one,  his 
senior  by  several  years  and  his  equal  in  devotion, 
whose  name  is  worthy  to  be  ranked  beside  his  own 
Joseph  Smith  was  a  graduate  of  Princeton  in  1764, 
and  five  years  later,  at  the  age  of  thirty-three,  was 
installed  pastor  of  Lower  Brandywine.  In  this  region 
he  labored  till  1778.  The  troubles  and  confusion  of 
the  war  led  him  to  think  of  seeking  another  field.  In 
1779,  he  crossed  the  mountains  to  Western  Pennsyl- 
vania. His  short  visit  led  to  his  receiving  a  call  from 
the  united  congregations  of  Buffalo  and  Cross  Creek. 

1  Old  Redstone,  p.  145. 


264  HISTORY   OF   PRESBYTERIANISM. 

He  accepted  it,  and   for  the  twelve  remaining  years 
of  bis  life  continued  pastor  of  these  congregations. 

A  revival  commenced  soon  after  his  settlement,  and 
it  may  almost  be  said  to  have  continued  to  the  close 
of  his  pastorate.  A  more  devoted  pastor  was  not  to 
be  found  in  the  whole  band  of  those  that  preceded 
or  followed  him.  He  was  a  man  of  prayer  and  faith. 
In  the  pulpit,  and  out  of  it,  his  power  was  wonderful 
His  soul  was  thrown  into  his  utterance.  His  voice  was 
"  now  like  the  thunder,  and  now  like  the  music  of 
heaven."  His  manner  "  had  a  strange  kind  of  power 
about  it,  totally  indescribable."  He  had  the  pecu- 
liarity of  Whitefield,  a  slight  look  askance  of  one  eye ; 
and  the  piercing  brilliancy  of  his  glance  was  remark- 
ably impressive.  "  I  never  heard  a  man,"  said  the 
Rev.  Samuel  Porter,  "  who  could  so  completely  unbar 
the  gates  of  hell  and  make  me  look  so  far  down  into 
the  dark,  bottomless  abyss,  or,  like  him,  could  so 
throw  open  the  gates  of  heaven  and  let  me  glance  at 
the  insufferable  brightness  of  the  great  white  throne." 
"  He  would  often  rise  to  an  almost  supernatural  and 
unearthly  grandeur,  completely  extinguishing  in  his 
hearers  all  consciousness  of  time  and  place."1  No 
one  could  appreciate  the  man  merely  from  his  written 
discourses.  His  tones,  his  emphasis,  his  holy  unction, 
and  the  holy  vitality  of  his  soul  made  them  indescri- 
bably impressive.  His  mind  had  been  early  disci- 
plined by  classical  studies  and  collegiate  drilling.  He- 
was  capable,  doubtless,  of  scholarly  reasoning,  of  cau- 
tious logic ;  but  in  the  earnest  glow  of  his  eloquence, 
in  the  soarings  of  lofty  and  hallowed  thought,  he 
spurned  them  as  an  eagle  would  a  ladder  by  which 
to  climb. 

Yet  he  was  a  man  who  was  regarded  with  affection 

1  Old  Redstone,  p.  67. 


OLD    REDSTONE,    1776-1793.  205 

as  well  as  awe.  Always  cheerful,  eminently  social, 
there  was  n  charm  in  his  tones  and  manner  that  won 
the  hearts  of  all  with  whom  he  had  intercourse.  His 
soul  was  attuned  to  praise.  Amid  hardships  from 
want  and  exposure,  and  perils  from  savage  foes,  he 
was  still  calmly  resolute.  In  pastoral  duty  he  was 
faithful  and  unwearied,  and  large  and  blessed  were 
the  results  of  his  fidelity. 

Like  Dod  and  McMillan,  he  did  not  neglect  the 
cause  of  ministerial  education.  Soon  after  his  settle- 
ment, as  early  as  1785,  he  commenced  a  school  for 
the  training  of  young  men.  He  had  no  building  for 
the  purpose,  and,  with  his  wife's  consent,  his  kitchen 
was  devoted  to  the  service  of  mental  instead  of  bodily 
aliment.  Here  the  first  Latin  school  of  the  region 
was  commenced,  and  McGready,  Patterson,  and  Por- 
ter began  their  course.  Others  soon  joined  them,  and 
these  young  men — supported  by  the  ladies  of  the 
neighboring  congregations,  who  made  up  for  them 
their  summer  and  winter  clothing  (coloring  linen  for 
summer  wear  in  a  dye  made  from  new-mown  hay) — 
largely  composed  the  future  missionaries  and  minis- 
ters of  Redstone,  Ohio,  and  other  Presbyteries. 

Thus,  in  1781,  the  Presbytery  of  Redstone  was  con- 
stituted with  these  four  ministers,  Smith,  Dod,  McMil- 
lan, and  Power,  as  its  first  members.  In  1782,  James 
Dunlap,  a  graduate  of  Princeton,  and  a  theological 
pupil  of  James  Finley,  joined  the  Presbytery,  and  was 
installed  over  the  congregations  of  Laurel  Hill  and 
Dunlap's  Creek.  He  afterward  became  a  member  of 
Ohio  Presbytery,  and  subsequently  President  of  Jeffer- 
son College  at  Canonsburg.  He  was  soon  followed 
to  Western  Pennsylvania  by  his  theological  instructor, 
James  Finley,  who  had  accepted  a  call  from  the  two 
societies  in  the  Forks  of  Youghiogheny.  He  was  a 
brother  of  President  Finley  of  Princeton,  and  for 
Vol.  I.— 23 


266  HISTORY    OF    PRESBYTERIANISM. 

several  years  had  been  settled  at  East  Nottingham. 
On  repeated  occasions  he  had  visited  this  Western 
region,  and  when  not  a  few  of  his  neighbors  and 
parishioners,  and  some  of  his  own  children,  had  car- 
ried into  action  their  purpose  to  emigrate,  he  resolved 
to  follow.  He  became  "  informally,  and  without  the 
consent  of  the  Presbytery,"1  pastor  of  Rehoboth  and 
Round  Hill,  and  so  continued  without  any  further 
action  of  the  Presbytery,  of  which  for  four  years 
he  continued  a  corresponding  member  before  he  united 
with  it.  As  Dr.  Hill  well  remarks,  "  We  were  not  very 
strict  in  observing  church  rules  in  those  days." 

Meanwhile,  a  veteran  in  the  Eastern  field  had  crossed 
the  mountains.  John  Clark,  already  over  sixty  years 
of  age,  had  been  settled  successively  within  the  bounds 
of  Philadelphia  and  New  Castle  Presbyteries.  In 
1781  he  became  the  supply,  and  afterward  pastor,  of 
the  united  congregations  of  Bethel  and  Lebanon, 
under  the  care  of  the  Presbytery  of  Redstone.  In 
1785,  Mr.  Barr,  from  New  Castle  Presbytery,  accepted 
a  call  from  the  united  congregations  of  Pittsburg 
and  Pitt  township.  In  1788,  John  Brice,  James 
Hughes,  James  McGready,  and  Joseph  Patterson  were 
licensed  by  the  Presbytery,  and  entered  soon  after 
upon  their  fields  of  labor,  the  first  at  Three  Ridges 
and  Forks  of  Wheeling,  the  last  far  on  in  the  wilder- 
ness, at  Short  Creek  and  Lower  Buffalo,  and  Patterson 
at  Raccoon  and  Montour's  Run.  McGready,  after- 
ward so  famous  in  connection  with  the  great  revival 
in  Kentucky,  was  converted  under  the  preaching  of 
Joseph  Smith,  and  was  for  a  while  his  pupil.  He 
labored  but  a  short  time  within  the  bounds  of  the 
Presbytery  by  which  he  was  licensed,  returning  soon 
to  Carolina,  where  his  parents  resided,  and  where  a 

1  Old  Redstone,  p.  283. 


OLD   REDSTONE,    1776-1793.  267 

revival  quickly  commenced  under  his  Labors,  among 
the  fruits  of  which  was  Dr.  Anderson,  who  succeeded 

Joseph  Smith  in  the  pastorate  at  Upper  Buffalo. 

In  the  course  of  the  following  years  the  Presbytery 
was  strengthened  by  several  others  who  had  been 
trained  up  upon  the  field.  John  McPherrin,  Samuel 
Porter,  Robert  Marshall,  George  Hill,  William  Swan, 
and  Thomas  Marquis,  were  licensed,  and  became  effi- 
cient laborers  wTithin  the  rapidly  extending  bounds  of 
the  Presbytery.  Jacob  Jennings  and  Thomas  Cooley 
were  received  by  dismission  from  other  bodies :  so  that 
at  the  period  of  the  formation  of  the  Ohio  Presbytery, 
in  1793,  the  Redstone  Presbytery  numbered  more  than 
twelve  ministers  and  about  three  times  as  many 
churches. 

Rarely,  if  ever,  in  the  history  of  the  Presbyterian 
Church  in  this  country  has  any  of  its  missionary  fields 
been  occupied  by  a  more  able  and  devoted  band  of 
pioneer  laborers  than  that  which  was  covered  by  the 
Old  Redstone  Presbytery.  In  wise  and  sagacious  fore- 
thought and  provision  for  the  prospective  wants  of  the 
Church,  as  well  as  in  unwearied  and  faithful  cultiva- 
tion of  their  own  fields,  they  have  been  rarely  equalled, 
and  never  surpassed.  Their  self-denial,  their  energy, 
and  their  success  alike  entitle  them  to  the  highest 
honor.  In  spirit  they  wTere  the  successors  to  the 
Blairs,  Finleys,  and  Smiths  of  the  Revival  period  who 
during  the  division  adhered  to  the  New  side  and  the 
cause  of  vital  piety.  Many  of  them  wTere  rarely  gifted, 
and  wrould  have  done  honor  to  the  most  exalted  sta- 
tion ;  and  the  influence  which  they  exerted  upon  the 
great  "Western  field  then  opening  with  inviting  promise 
to  Eastern  emigration,  cannot,  be  estimated.  Deterred 
by  no  hardships,  appalled  by  no  terror,  whether  from 
the  wilderness  or  the  savage,  they  stood  firm  at  their 


268  HISTORY    OF   PRESBYTERIANISM. 

posts,  contending  to  the  last  with  their  harness  on.1 
They  had  no  supernumeraries,  and  yet,  notwithstanding 
the  crying  need  of  missionary  labor,  declined  to  license 
a  man  whose  piety  they  approved,  but  with  whose 
qualifications  they  were  dissatisfied.  They  wanted, 
and  made  provision  to  secure,  strong  men;  and  all  who 
joined  them  seemed  to  be  made  partakers  of  their  own 
spirit.  It  was  of  immense  importance  to  the  Church 
that  its  earliest  Western  outpost  should  be  held  by  the 
hands  of  these  men,  whom  the  providence  of  God  had 
trained  and  appointed  to  the  task. 


CHAPTER  XIV. 

GENERAL    ASSEMBLY,    1789-1800. 

The  original  motion  for  the  division  of  the  Synod, 
with  a  view  to  the  formation  of  a  General  Assembly, 
proposed  the  constituting  of  three  Synods.  This  was 
in  1785;  but  in  the  following  year  the  terms  of  the 
measure  were  modified  so  as  to  read,  "three  or  more." 
Accordingly,  the  Presbyteries  were  so  divided  and 
arranged  as  to  constitute  four  Synods, — viz. :  those  of 
New  York  and  New  Jersey,  Philadelphia,  Virginia,  and 
the  Carolinas.     The  first  embraced  the  Presbyteries  of 

1  "  In  everything  our  fathers  were  trained  to  endure  hardness  as 
good  soldiers.  Their  first  temples  were  the  shady  grove,  and  their 
first  pulpits  a  rude  tent  made  of  rough  slabs ;  while  the  audience 
sat  either  upon  logs  or  the  green  turf.  Not  even  log  churches 
were  erected  till  about  the  year  1790.  Even  in  winter  the  meetings 
were  held  in  the  open  air.  Not  one  in  ten  had  the  luxury  of  a 
great-coat.  The  most  were  obliged  to  wear  blankets  or  coverlets 
instead." — Dr.  Wines's  Historical  Discourse,  1859,  p.  10. 


GENERAL   ASSEMBLY,  1789-1800.  269 

Suffolk,  Dutchess  county,  New  York,  and  New  Bruns- 
wick; the  second,  those  of  Philadelphia,  Lewes.  New- 
castle, Baltimore,  and  Carlisle;  that  of  Virginia,  the 
Presbyteries  of  Redstone,  Hanover,  Lexington,  and 
Transylvania;  that  of  the  Carolinas,  the  Presbyteries 
of  Abingdon,  Orange,  and  South  Carolina. 

In  order  to  carry  out  this  arrangement  for  a  division, 
several  changes  were  made  in  relation  to  the  Presbyte- 
ries. The  Presbytery  of  Abingdon,  extending  over  the 
borders  of  Western  Virginia,  Tennessee,  and  Kentucky, 
was  divided,  and  that  of  Transylvania,  embracing  Ken- 
tucky, was  formed  out  of  it.  Hanover  Presbytery  was 
also  divided,  and  the  portion  of  it  northwest  of  tho 
Blue  Ridge,  embracing  the  Valley  of  the  Shenandoah, 
was  set  off  to  form  the  Presbytery  of  Lexington.  The 
Presbytery  of  Donegal  was  also  divided,  and  the  Pres- 
bytery of  Carlisle  erected  out  of  it.  A  new  Presbytery 
was  formed,  by  the  name  of  the  Presbytery  of  Balti- 
more, and  the  Old-side  Second  of  Philadelphia,  which 
had  not  hitherto  altogether  harmonized  with  the  Synod, 
was  struck  from  the  list,  and  its  members  distributed 
between  the  three  Presbyteries  of  Carlisle,  Philadelphia 
First,  and  Baltimore. 

The  four  Synods,  embracing  sixteen  Presbyteries, 
were  now  to  be  united  in  a  General  Assembly.  From 
the  widely  extended  bounds  of  the  Church,  it  had 
become  altogether  impracticable  to  secure  a  full  attend- 
ance of  the  ministers  and  elders  of  the  more  distant 
churches.  For  successive  years,  several  Presbyteries 
had  not  been  represented  in  Synod  by  so  much  as  a 
single  member.  The  number  of  churches  and  minis- 
ters, moreover,  had  so  multiplied  that  it  was  supposed 
that  an  Assembly  that  would  embrace  them  all  would 
be  too  unwieldy  for  wise  deliberation.  It  was  there- 
fore resolved  to  adopt  the  principle  of  delegation. 
Every  Presbytery  of  not  more  than  six  ministers  might 

23* 


270  HISTORY    OF    PRESBYTERIANISM. 

send  one  minister  and  one  elder  to  the  Assembly.  If  it 
consisted  of  more  than  six  and  not  more  than  twelve, 
it  was  to  send  two  ministers  and  two  elders,  and  like- 
wise in  the  same  proportion  for  every  six  ministers. 

The  first  General  Assembly  of  the  Church  met  in 
Philadelphia  in  1789.1  By  the  appointment  of  the 
Synod  that  ratified  the  constitution  of  the  Church,  it 
was  opened  with  a  sermon  by  Dr.  Witherspoon,  and  Dr. 
John  Eodgers,  of  New  York,  was  chosen  the  first  mode- 
rator. The  first  Congress  of  the  United  States  under 
the  present  Constitution  was  then  in  session  in  New 
York:  so  that  the  Federal  Government  of  the  country 
and  the  present  constitution  of  the  Presbyterian  Church 
were  nearly  contemporaneous,  and  went  into  operation 
at  the  same  time. 

It  is  not  surprising  that,  in  such  circumstances,  the 
Assembly  should  have  felt  the  appropriateness  of  the 
suggestion  that  a  committee  should  be  appointed  to 
draft  an  address  to  the  President  of  the  United  States; 
and  the  selection  of  the  committee,  of  which  Dr.  Wither- 
spoon  was  chairman  and  Drs.  Allison  and  Samuel  Stan- 
hope Smith  were  members,  shows  the  importance  which 
was  attached  to  the  proceeding.  The  Assembly,  doubt- 
less, felt  it  to  be  a  privilege  not  only  to  express  to 
"Washington  himself  the  respect  they  felt  for  his  vir- 
tues, but  to  lend  the  sanction  of  their  approval  to  his 
conduct,  and  encourage  him  in  the  discharge  of  the 
arduous  duties  to  which  he  had  been  called. 

The   document,  as  drawn   up    and    adopted  by  the 

1  See  Rev.  Dr.  Ashbel  Green's  Autobiography.  With  a  few  excep- 
tions, Philadelphia  was  the  place  where  the  Assembly  convened 
regularly  each  year  till  after  the  division  of  1838.  The  distance  of 
the  Southern  and  Western  portions  of  the  Church  led  them  to  ask 
that  it  might  meet  nearer  to  them.  The  request  was  granted  a  few 
times,  an  in  1792  and  1795,  when  it  met  at  Carlisle,  and  in  1799 
when  it  met.  at  Winchester,  Va.     In  1835,  it  met  at  Pittsburg. 


271 

Assembly,  is  worthy  to  stand  as  a  precedent  of  appro- 
priate address  Prom  a  Christian  Assembly  to  a  Christian 

ruler,  whose  character  Deeded  no  eulogium  beyond  bin 
own  acts.  It  was  respectful,  dignified,  and  manly  in 
its  tone.  After  referring  to  his  past  career,  it  proceeds, 
'•  From  a  retirement  more  glorious  than  thrones  and 
sceptres,  you  have  been  called  to  your  present  elevated 
station  by  the  advice  of  a  great  and  a  free  people,  and 
with  an  unanimity  of  suffrage  that  lias  few,  if  any, 
examples  in  history.  A  man  more  ambitious  of  fame, 
or  less  devoted  to  his  country,  would  have  refused  an 
office  in  which  his  honors  could  not  be  augmented,  and 
where  he  might  possibly  be  subject  to  a  reverse.  We  are 
happy  that  God  has  inclined  your  heart  to  give  your- 
self once  more  to  the  public.  And  wTe  derive  a  favor- 
able presage  of  the  event  from  the  zeal  of  all  classes 
of  the  people,  and  their  confidence  in  your  virtues,  as» 
well  as  from  the  knowledge  and  dignity  with  which 
the  federal  councils  are  filled.  But  w7e  derive  a  presage 
even  more  flattering  from  the  piety  of  your  character. 
Public  virtue  is  the  most  certain  means  of  public 
felicity,  and  religion  is  the  surest  basis  of  virtue. 
We  therefore  esteem  it  a  peculiar  happiness  to  behold 
in  our  chief  magistrate  a  steady,  uniform,  avowed 
friend  of  the  Christian  religion ;  who  has  commenced 
his  administration  in  rational  and  exalted  sentiments 
of  piety,  and  wTho  in  his  private  conduct  adorns  the 
doctrines  of  the  gospel  of  Christ,  and,  on  the  most 
public  and  solemn  occasions,  devoutly  acknowledges 
the  government  of  Divine  Providence. 

"  The  example  of  distinguished  characters  will  ever 
possess  a  powerful  and  extensive  influence  on  the  public 
mind;  and  when  we  see  in  such  a  conspicuous  station 
the  amiable  example  of  piety  to  God,  of  benevolence 
to  men,  and  of  a  pure  and  virtuous  patriotism,  we  natu- 
rally hope  that  it  will  diffuse  its  influence,  and  that, 


272  HISTORY   OF   PRESBYTERIANISM. 

eventually,  the  most  happy  consequences  will  result 
from  it.  To  the  force  of  imitation  we  will  endeavor 
to  add  the  wholesome  instructions  of  religion.  We 
shall  consider  ourselves  as  doing  an  acceptable  service 
to  God,  in  our  profession,  when  we  contribute  to  render 
men  sober,  honest,  and  industrious  citizens  and  the 
obedient  subjects  of  a  lawful  government.  In  these 
pious  labors  we  hope  to  imitate  the  most  worthy  of  our 
brethren  of  other  Christian  denominations,  and  to  be 
imitated  by  them ;  assured  that  if  we  can,  by  mutual 
and  generous  emulation,  promote  truth  and  virtue,  we 
shall  render  a  great  and  important  service  to  the  re- 
public, shall  receive  encouragement  from  every  wise 
and  good  citizen,  and,  above  all,  meet  the  approbation 
of  our  Divine  Master. 

"  We  pray  Almighty  God  to  have  you  always  in  his 
>holy  keejring.  May  he  prolong  your  valuable  life,  an 
ornament  and  a  blessing  to  your  country,  and  at  last 
bestow  on  you  the  glorious  reward  of  a  faithful  ser- 
vant/' 

Such  an  address  testifies  to  the  high  estimate  enter- 
tained by  the  Assembly  of  the  religious  character  of 
the  first  President  of  the  Eepublic,  while  its  endorse- 
ment of  the  effort  to  render  men  "  the  obedient  subjects 
of  a  lawful  government"  stands  as  a  precedent  for 
later  times. 

The  reply  of  Washington  was  modest,  and  yet  pro- 
perly characterized  by  self-respect.  He  would  not  be 
elated  by  the  too  favorable  opinion  of  the  Assembly; 
yet,  conscious  of  the  disinterestedness  of  his  motives, 
it  was  not  necessary  for  him  to  conceal  the  satisfaction 
he  felt  at  general  approbation  of  his  conduct.  "While 
I  reiterate,"  he  says,  "  the  professions  of  my  depend- 
ence upon  Heaven  as  the  source  of  all  public  and 
private  blessings,  I  will  observe,  that  the  general  pre- 
valence of  piety,  philanthropy,  honesty,  industry,  and 


GENERAL    ASSEMBLY,  1789-1800.  273 

economy,  seems,  in  the  ordinary  course  of  human 
affairs,  particularly  necessary  for  advancing  and  con- 
firming the  happiness  of  our  country.     While  all  men 

within  our  territories  arc  protected  in  worshipping  the 
Deity  according  to  the  dictates  of  their  consciences,  it 
is  rationally  to  be  expected  from  them  in  return  that 
they  will  all  be  emulous  of  evincing  the  sincerity  of 
their  professions  by  the  innocence  of  their  lives  and 
the  benevolence  of  their  actions.  For  no  man  who  is 
profligate  in  his  morals,  or  a  bad  member  of  the  civil 
community,  can  possibly  be  a  true  Christian,  or  a  credit 
to  his  own  religious  society." 

He  closes  by  desiring  the  Assembly  to  accept  his 
acknowledgments  for  their  laudable  endeavors  to 
render  men  sober,  honest,  and  good  citizens,  and  "  the 
obedient  subjects  of  a  lawful  government,"  as  well  as 
for  their  prayers  for  the  country  and  himself. 

#The  correspondence  does  honor  alike  to  the  Assem- 
bly and  "the  great  man"1  whom  it  wished  to  cheer  and 
encourage  in  his  arduous  position.  The  popular  esti- 
mate of  his  Christian  character  was  no  doubt  reflected 
in  the  language  of  the  Assembly.  His  own  modesty 
forbade  him  to  accept  the  full  measure  of  their  praise  j 
but  he  reiterated  his  professions  of  dependence  on 
Providence,  and  gratefully  acknowledged  their  prayers 
in  his  behalf. 

The  liberal  ecclesiastical  spirit  of  the  first  General 
Assembly  is  sufficiently  attested  by  the  reply  to  an 
overture  bearing  directly  on  the  power  and  authority 
of  Synods  and  Assemblies.  The  overture  was  to  this 
effect : — "  Whether  the  General  Assembly,  out  of  their 
liberality,  charity,  and  candor,  will  admit  to  their  com- 
munion, in  the  ecclesiastical  Assemblies,  as  far  as  they 


1  This  was  the  term  )y  which  Fisher  Ames  was  wont  to  speak  of 
Washington. 


274  HISTORY    OF    PRESBYTERIANISM. 

can  consistently  with  the  scrupulosity  of  their  con- 
sciences, a  Presbytery  who  are  totally  averse  to  the 
doctrine  of  receiving,  hearing,  or  judging  of  any  ap- 
peals from  Presbyteries  to  Synods,  and  from  Synods  to 
General  Assemblies,  because  in  their  judgment  it  is 
inconsistent  with  Scripture  and  the  practice  of  the 
primitive  churches  ?"  In  reply,  the  General  Assembly 
declare  "  that,  although  they  consider  the  right  of 
appeal  from  the  decision  of  an  inferior  judicature  to  a 
superior,  an  important  privilege,  which  no  member  of 
their  body  ought  to  be  deprived  of,  yet  they  at  the 
same  time  declare  that  they  do  not  desire  any  member 
to  be  active  in  any  case  which  may  be  inconsistent 
with  the  dictates  of  his  conscience. " 

As  to  the  source  from  which  this  overture  originated, 
we  are  left  to  conjecture.  It  is  barely  possible  that  it  may 
have  proceeded  from  the  Presbytery  of  Long  Island, 
which  for  some  years  after  the  organization  of  the  Gene- 
ral Assembly  was,  on  account  of  the  Congregational 
sympathies  of  the  churches,  scarcely  prepared  to  go  the 
full  length  of  the  friends  of  a  more  rigid  ecclesiasticism  j1 
but  it  is  more  probable  that  it  emanated  from  the  Asso- 
ciated Presbytery  of  Morris  county,  N.J.,  or  that  of 
Westchester  county,  N.Y.  These  bodies,  from  old  asso- 
ciations, chose  to  retain  the  Presbyterian  name,  while 
they  approximated  to  Congregational  usage,  but,  unable 
to  sustain  themselves  permanently,  became  at  length 

1  In  1790,  the  Presbytery  of  Long  Island  addressed  a  circular 
letter  to  the  churches  under  their  care,  in  which,  among  other 
things,  they  present  an  argument  in  favor  of  "not  only  the  par- 
ticular but  general  government  of  the  churches."  The  letter  is 
given  in  the  "Presbyterian  Magazine,"  July,  1859,  p.  326.  In  the 
course  of  it,  the  Presbytery  state  that  they  "are  not  insensible 
that  prejudices  have  been  implanted,  by  ill-designing  persons,  in 
the  minds  of  many  against  Presbyterian  government."  These  they 
endeavor  to  remove. 


275 

disintegrated,  and  the  constituenl  churches  were  for 
the  most  part  absorbed  in  other  Presbyteries  under  the 
care  of  the  Assembly.  It  was  indicative  of  the  spirit 
of  the  Assembly,  that  at  its  first  sessions  it  should 
adopt  measures  to  preserve  "  faithful  and  correct  im- 
pressions of  the  Holy  Scriptures."  Mr.  Collins,  of 
New  Jersey,  proposed  to  print  an  edition  of  the  Bible, 
and  to  this  end  sought  the  countenance  and  support  of 
all  denominations.  The  General  Assembly  warmly 
favored  his  project,  and  a  committee  of  one  from  each 
of  the  sixteen  Presbyteries  of  the  Church  was  appointed 
to  bring  the  subject  before  their  respective  bodies,  so 
that  in  each  congregation  an  individual  should  be 
appointed  to  secure  subscriptions.  It  was  also  pro- 
posed to  inquire  whether,  and  on  what  terms,  Oster- 
vald's1  notes  could  be  printed  with  it. 

The  recommendation  of  1789  was  repeated  in  the 
following  year,  and  the  effort  to  secure  the  printing  of 
the  notes — which  could  be  done  only  for  those  who 
especially  desired  it — was  promoted  by  measures  for 
obtaining  subscribers  for  five  hundred  copies  at  3s.  9d. 
each,  or  one  thousand  at  2s.  6d.  each. 

In  1795,  the  interest  of  the  Assembly  in  the  cause  of 
learning  was  evinced  by  their  recommendation  of  the 
agents  of  "  Kentucky  Academy."2  Expressing  the 
earnest  wish  that  the  cause  of  learning  and  religion 
might  be  promoted  throughout  the  world,  and  espe- 
cially in  this  country,  they  certified  to  the  good  stand- 

1  Ostervald,  a  Protestant  minister,  born,  1663,  at  Neufchatel,  a 
friend  of  Turretin  and  Werenfels,  the  three  in  connection  repeat- 
edly styled  "the  triumvirate  of  Swiss  theologians."  Ostervald 
bore  the  reputation  of  being  "learned,  pious,  anl  humane." 

2  Minutes  of  1795,  p.  105.  Transylvania  University,  founded  by 
Presbyterians,  had  been  wrested  from  their  hands  and  given  over 
to  the  influence  of  infidelity.  The  effort  was  now  made  to  secure 
an  institution  of  which  they  might  have  the  control. 


276  HISTORY    OF   PRESBYTERIANISM. 

ing  of  Rev.  Messrs.  Eice  and  Blythe,  recommending 
them  and  their  cause  to  all  to  whom  they  might  apply, 
and  inviting  liberal  donations  "for  the  promotion  of 
the  seminary  about  to  be  erected"  in  the  new  State  of 
Kentucky. 

From  the  earliest  period  the  Presbyterian  Church  in 
this  country  assumed  the  character  of  a  missionary 
Church.  In  1707,  only  two  years  after  the  formation  of 
the  first  Presbytery,  it  was  recommended  to  every 
minister  of  the  body  "  to  supply  neighboring  desolate 
places  where  a  minister  is  wanted,  and  opportunity  of 
doing  good  offers."  Soon  after,  we  find  appeals  made 
to  the  churches  in  Ireland,  Scotland,  and  London,  for 
ministers  and  means  to  supply  the  infant  churches, 
which  were  rapidly  organized. 

One  of  the  first  acts  of  the  Synod  of  Philadelphia 
after  its  formation  was  the  initiation  of  a  fund  "  for 
pious  uses."  Each  minister  was  to  contribute  some- 
thing himself,  and  use  his  influence  on  proper  occasions 
to  induce  others  to  contribute.  The  fund  was  under 
the  Synod's  control,  and  was  devoted  to  the  aid  of 
feeble  churches,  assistance  in  building  houses  of  wor- 
ship, sustaining  the  ministry,  and  extending  relief 
to  the  widows  of  deceased  brethren  who  had  been  left 
in  indigent  circumstances.  Annual  collections  were 
enjoined  upon  the  congregations  in  1719,  and  the  first 
recorded  disbursement  was  in  behalf  of  the  Presby- 
terian Church  in  the  city  of  New  York. 

But,  while  the  fund  thus  inaugurated  subsequently 
assumed  a  systematic  form,  the  principal  mode  of  its 
application  was  in  sustaining  itinerant  ministers  who 
visited  the  new  settlements,  gathering  the  people  and 
organizing  churches. 

After  the  union  of  the  two  Synods  in  1758,  the 
missionary  operations  of  the  Church  were  carried  on 
with  increased  energy.     In  1759,  Messrs.  Kirkpatrick, 


GENERAL    ASSEMBLY,  17S9-1800.  277 

McWhorter,  Latta,  and  Lewis  were  sent  to  Virginia 
to  act  under  the  direction  of  the  Presbytery  of  Hanover, 
and  were  succeeded  in  the  following  year  by  Messrs. 
Duilield  and  Mills.  At  the  same  time  provision  was 
made  for  sustaining  John,  the  brother  of  David  Brain- 
erd,  in  his  labors  among  the  Indians.  Collections  were 
successively  ordered  to  promote  this  object. 

The  annual  appointments  for  itinerant  missionary 
labor  still  continued  to  be  made ;  and  in  1773,  Mr. 
Occum,  missionary  of  the  British  Society,  was  taken 
under  the  care  of  Synod,  and  sixty-five  pounds  were  ap- 
propriated for  his  support.  In  the  same  year  the  desti- 
tute condition  of  the  frontier  settlements  wTas  brought 
to  the  attention  of  Synod.  Messrs.  Beatty  and  Brainerd 
were  appointed  to  go  to  the  West  and  report  the  result 
of  their  researches.  Arrangements  were  also  made  for 
devising  a  more  systematic  plan  of  missionary  opera- 
tions. 

In  the  following  year  it  was  ordered  that  each 
member  of  the  Synod  should  take  up  a  collection  in 
his  congregation,  to  raise  a  fund  for  missionary  pur- 
poses. The  amount  realized  was  only  one  hundred  and 
twelve  pounds  j  and  the  Synod,  with  regret  that  so  little 
had  been  accomplished,  adopted  an  overture  from  the 
Presbytery  of  New  York,  providing  for  an  annual 
collection  in  each  congregation,  and  appointing  a 
treasurer  for  each  Presbytery,  as  well  as  a  general 
treasurer  for  the  Synod. 

During  the  war  the  missionary  policy  of  the  Church 
was  paralyzed,  but  upon  the  formation  of  the  General 
Assembly  the  subject  claimed  its  earliest  and  most 
serious  attention.  The  necessity  was  urgent  of  making 
provision  for  missionary  effort  in  the  new  and  destitute 
settlements.  From  the  close  of  the  war  there  had 
been  a  large  and  continuous  emigration  from  the  East 
to  the  West ;  and  in  the  period  which  had  elapsed 
Vol.  I.— 24 


278  HISTORY   OF   PRESBYTERIANISM. 

since  the  plan  for  a  General  Assembly  was  first 
agitated,  the  region  west  of  the  Alleghanies  had  risen 
into  new  importance.  Settlements  had  been  com- 
menced in  Central  and  even  Western  New  York,  and 
quite  extensively  in  Western  Pennsylvania.  Even 
during  the  war,  applications  for  missionary  aid  were 
frequent.  They  were  now  more  numerous.  The  Assem- 
bly felt  the  importance  of  the  subject,  and  Dr.  Allison 
and  Dr.  Samuel  S.  Smith  were  appointed  a  committee 
to  prepare  a  minute  with  reference  to  sending  mis- 
sionaries to  the  frontier  settlements.1  Each  Synod 
was  directed  to  name  those  of  its  number  whom  it 
deemed  properly  qualified  to  discharge  the  duties  of 
missionary  labor,  and  who  would  be  disposed  to  under- 
take the  work  at  least  for  a  portion  of  the  year.  This 
was  in  1789  j  but  in  the  following  year  the  duty  was 
more  appropriately  committed  to  each  Presbytery, 
which  would  naturally  be  better  acquainted  with  the 
qualifications  of  its  members.  The  object  of  this 
arrangement  was  to  bring  before  the  Assembly  the 
names  of  those  from  whom  it  might  select  the  persons, 
in  its  judgment,  best  fitted  to  be  sent  out  into  the  new 
fields. 

The  Assembly  moreover  (1790)  took  measures  for 
carrying  out  the  plan  which  had  been  devised.  Two 
missionaries,  Messrs.  Hart  and  Ker,2  were  appointed 
to  visit  the  extensive  field  that  was  already  opened  to 

1  The  overture,  from  the  Committee  on  Bills  and  Overtures,  with 
reference  to  which  the  Missionary  Committee  was  appointed,  was 
to  the  effect  "that  the  state  of  the  frontier  settlements  should  be 
taken  into  consideration,  and  missionaries  sent  to  them  to  form  them 
into  congregations,  ordain  elders,  administer  the  sacraments,  and 
direct  them  to  the  best  measures  for  obtaining  the  gospel  ministry 
regularly  among  them." — Minutes  of  Assembly  for  1789,  p.  10. 

2  Probably  Nathan  Ker,  of  Goshen,  N.Y.,  and  Joshua  Hart,  of 
Suffolk  Presbytery. 


GENERAL    ASSEMBLY,  1789-1S00.  279 

effort  within  the  bounds  of  New  York  and  Northern 
Pennsylvania.1  The  route  which  they  were  directed 
to  pursue  was  then  regarded  as  the  extreme  west  of 
the  New  Settlements.  They  visited  Middletown,  Still- 
water, Fort  Edward,  Fort  Miller,  New  Galloway, 
Cherry  Valley,  Fort  Schuyler,  Whitestown,  Coopers- 
town,  Clinton,  Chenango,  Tioga,  Wilkesborough,  Hano- 
ver, and  other  places  on  the  route,  as  well  as  the  Indian 
tribes.  They  were  treated  everywhere  with  great 
respect,  and  were  requested  in  the  most  affectionate 
manner  "  to  offer  the  thanks  of  the  people  to  the 
General  Assembly  for  their  pious  attention  in  sending 
missionaries  among  them."  The  request  was  urgently 
and  earnestly  made  that  the  favor  might  be  repeated. 

To  this  request  the  Assembly  responded  by  sending 
out  in  the  following  year,  through  the  same  region, 
James  Boyd  and  Aaron  Condict.  The  latter — a  theo- 
logical pupil  of  Jedediah  Chapman,  who  was  after- 
ward settled  at  Geneva — had  just  been  licensed  by  the 
Presbytery  of  New  York;  and  so  acceptable  did  he 
prove  himself  in  his  preaching  upon  his  route,  that  he 
was  called  within  a  few  months  to  the  pastoral  charge 
of  the  church  at  Stillwater,  twenty  miles  north  of 
Albany. 

It  soon  became  evident  that,  in  some  portions  of  the 
broad  field  covered  b}^  the  Church,  the  local  knowledge 
possessed  by  the  Synods  best  fitted  them  to  direct  the 
laborers  that  were  sent  out.  The  Synods  of  Virginia 
and  the  Carolinas  therefore  (1791),  at  their  own  request, 
were  allowed  to  manage  the  missions  within  their 
bounds.  This  was  also  the  case  afterward  with  other 
Synods  with  which  the  Assembly  sometimes  co-ope- 
rated, and  from  which  they  expected  annual  reports. 

1  In  1794,  the  salary  of  missionaries  was  iixed  by  the  Assembly 
at  forty  dollars  per  month. 


280  HISTORY    OF   PRESBYTERIANISM. 

The  Assembly,  however,  did  not  give  the  matter 
exclusively  into  the  hands  of  the  Synods.  There  was, 
indeed,  more  work  to  be  done  than  all  united  could 
properly  perform,  and  the  attention  of  the  Assembly 
was  directed  to  those  regions  which  came  most  directly 
under  the  notice  of  its  missionary  committee  as  need- 
ing aid.  Appointments  were  sometimes  made  with  the 
understanding  that  the  Presbyteries  or  Synods  should 
unite  with  the  Assembly  in  the  support  of  mission- 
aries. The  fields  which  were  principally  regarded  by 
the  Assembly  were  those  in  Delaware,  Western  Penn- 
sylvania, and  Northern  and  Central  New  York.  The 
latter  region  was  never  overlooked  in  the  list  of  the 
Assembly's  appointments. 

To  give  a  Avider  dissemination  to  its  views  on  mis- 
sions, the  Assembly  of  1791  prepared,  and  inserted  in 
the  printed  extracts  from  its  minutes,  a  circular  letter 
to  the  churches  under  its  care.  It  urged  in  a  forcible 
manner  the  claims  of  the  cause  of  Christ  upon  the 
members  of  the  Church,  and  held  up  before  them  the 
animating  prospect  of  the  results  which  by  proper 
exertion  might  be  attained. 

In  order,  moreover,  to  provide  the  necessary  means 
for  the  support  of  the  missionaries,  who  ought  not  to 
be  left  to  bear  alone  the  whole  burden,  annual  collec- 
tions were  directed  to  be  taken  up  in  all  the  congre- 
gations, and  to  be  placed  in  the  hands  of  the  General 
Assembly.  The  amount  realized  from  this  source  was 
inadequate  to  any  extended  operations ;  but  it  amounted 
in  1795  and  1796  to  $1,226.50,  and  at  least  enabled  the 
Assembly  to  carry  out  in  form,  however  feeble  in  imme- 
diate results,  a  policy  which  was  to  bind  the  Church 
together  in  healthful  and  harmonious  co-operation. 
Securing  in  1799  a  charter  of  incorporation  from  the 
State  of  Pennsylvania,  the  Assembly  prosecuted  its 
work  with   enlarged    resources.     Donors   felt   greater 


GENERAL   ASSEMBLY,    1789-1800.  281 

security  in  contributing  to  its  funds.  Its  plan  now  was 
to  initiate  a  system  that  should  at  once  reach  the  des- 
titutions of  the  older  and  frontier  settlements,  negroes, 
including  slaves,  and  the  Indian  tribes. 

Yet,  as  has  been  noted,  the  missionary  operations  of 
the  Church  were  carried  on  not  only  through  the 
Assembly,  but  through  the  Synods.  Those  of  Vir- 
ginia and  the  Carolinas,  and,  subsequently,  of  Pittsburg 
and  Kentucky,  were  all  directly  employed  in  the  work, 
although  some  of  them  retained  connection  with,  and 
received  aid  from,  the  Assembly. 

But  the  Synod  of  Virginia  found  itself  from  the  first 
(October,  1789)  better  prepared  than  some  of  the  other 
Synods  to  prosecute  its  work.  The  influence  of  the 
remarkable  revival  which  had  visited  Hampden-Sid- 
ney  College  and  Prince  Edward  county  had,  through 
the  labors  of  Graham  and  his  younger  coadjutors,  been 
extended  in  several  other  counties,  even  to  Augusta. 
In  some  neighborhoods  the  work  was  very  powerful. 
Quite  a  large  number  of  the  students  in  the  two  insti- 
tutions were  converted,  and  immediately  turned  their 
attention  to  the  ministry.  Among  them  were  some 
whose  names  occupy  the  highest  places  of  distinction 
in  the  history  of  the  Church:  Legrand,  Lacy,  Allen, 
Hill,  Alexander,  Lyle,  Campbell,  and  Stuart,  were  of 
the  number. 

The  Synod  of  Virginia,  finding  at  its  command  such 
a  noble  body  of  young  men  preparing  for  or  just  enter- 
ing the  ministry,  some  of  them  of  superior  gifts,  and 
all  panting  for  active  service,  did  not  fail  to  seize  upon 
and  improve  the  opportunity  of  enlarging  its  sj^here 
of  effort.  At  its  first  session,  October  24,  1789,  a  Com- 
mittee of  Synod  for  Missions,  consisting  of  four  minis- 
ters and  three  elders,  was  appointed,  to  whom  the 
general  cha?-ge  of  this  important  subject  was  com- 
mitted. 


282  HISTORY    OF    PRESBYTERIANISM. 

The  committee  met  in  the  following  April,  and  pro- 
ceeded at  once  to  business.  The  Synod  was  divided 
into  four  districts,  corresponding  to  the  four  Presby- 
teries. The  pay  of  a  missionary  was  to  be  sixty  pounds 
per  annum,  and  Nash  Legrand,  a  probationer  of 
Hanover  Presbytery,  was  first  commissioned.  The 
funds  were  supplied  by  the  voluntary  contributions  of 
the  people,  and  the  missionaries  were  to  report  in 
person  at  each  annual  meeting  of  the  Synod. 

The  plan  worked  well.  The  Synod  became  an  effi- 
cient missionary  body.  Its  meetings  were  anticipated 
by  the  people  with  the  deepest  interest.  From  the 
most  distant  places  within  the  bounds  of  the  Synod 
there  was  an  eager  desire  to  be  present.  The  occasion 
wTas  regarded  almost  as  a  solemn  festival.  Old  and 
young,  the  patriarchs  of  the  Church  and  its  young 
missionaries  fresh  from  scenes  that  kindled  their  zeal 
and  love,  met  together.1  The  narrative  of  what  they 
had  seen  and  felt  and  experienced,  kindled  the  mis- 
sionary spirit  to  new  fervor.  "  The  tear  of  sympathy 
coursed  down  many  a  patriarchal  cheek,"  and  with  it 
flowed  tears  of  gratitude  for  what  God  had  accom- 
plished. Ardent  and  glowing  were  the  petitions  that 
went  up  to  heaven,  as  the  Synod  supplicated  upon  its 
youthful  members,  committed  to  a  great  work,  the 
blessing  of  Heaven.  The  spirit  of  devotion  glowed 
^rightly.  The  scene  was  one  of  the  highest  social  and 
religious  interest.  Heart  was  bound  to  heart,  and  all 
felt  themselves  to  be  laborers  together  in  a  common 
work. 

The  benefits  of  these  meetings,  and  especially  of  the 
missionary  tours,  the  account  of  which  added  so  much 
to  their  attraction,  were  great.  A  marked  change  was 
effected  in  the  moral  and  religious  condition  of  the 

1  See  Foote's  Sketches. 


GENERAL   ASSEMBLY,    17S9-1800.  283 

people.  The  demoralizing  effects  of  the  war,  and  the 
pernicious  spread  of  French  infidelity,  were  f.rrestcd. 
The  pulpits  that  had  been  vacant,  or  occupied  by  super- 
annuated men,  were  now  supplied  by  those  who  aban- 
doned other  pursuits  and  lucrative  prospects  to  engage 
in  the  self-denying  work  of  the  ministry.  Churches 
that  seemed  about  to  die  were  resuscitated,  and  new 
congregations  were  gathered.  On  all  sides  the  Church 
was  roused  to  new  life  and  vigor.  "  The  salutary 
effects"  of  this  work  "  are  still  apparent.  Many  of  the 
now  nourishing  churches  in  the  lower  counties  owe 
their  origin  to  this  epoch  ;  while  there  is  scarcely  a 
romantic  dell  embosomed  amid  the  huge  mountain- 
ranges,  however  unpromising  its  religious  aspect  may 
formerly  have  been,  whose  echoes  are  not  regularly 
waked  by  the  voice  of  hallowed  praise  upon  the  Sab- 
bath day."1 

The  band  of  young  men  consecrated  to  the  Church 
as  the  fruits  of  the  revival  was  large.  It  numbered 
from  thirty  to  forty.  But  the  field  that  opened  before 
them,  inviting  them  to  effort,  was  correspondingly 
large  and  extensive.  Virginia  itself  had  broad  wastes 
demanding  faithful  missionary  culture.  The  Carolinas 
at  the  South  were  calling  for  laborers.  Kentucky  and 
Tennessee  had  just  been  opened  to  civilized  enterprise, 
and  population  was  pouring  over  the  Alleghanies  in  a 
ceaseless  and  swelling  tide. 

In  1793,  a  memorial,  signed  by  Warner  Mifflin,  a 
member  of  the  Society  of  Friends,  was  handed,  under 
cover,  to  the  moderator,  read,  and  ordered  to  lie  upon 
the  table.  It  related  to  the  subject  of  slavery,  and 
the  Assembly,  in  response,  ordered  that  the  minute  of 
the  Synod  of  1787  on  the  same  subject  be  reprinted  in 
the   annual  issue  of  extracts  from  the   Minutes.      In 

1  Foote's  Sketches,  and  Life  of  Alexander. 


284  HISTORY    OP    PRESBYTERIANISM. 

1795,  ar.  overture  was  brought  in  by  the  Assembly's 
committee  to  the  following  effect: — "A  serious  and 
conscientious  person,  a  member  of  a  Presbyterian  con- 
gregation, who  views  the  slavery  of  the  negroes  as  a 
moral  evil,  highly  offensive  to  God  and  injurious  to  the 
interests  of  the  gospel,  lives  under  the  ministry  of  a 
person,  or  amongst  a  society  of  people,  who  concur 
with  him  in  sentiment  on  the  subject  upon  general 
principles,  yet  for  particular  reasons  hold  slaves  and 
tolerate  the  practice  in  others.  Overtured  :  Ought  the 
former  of  these  persons,  under  the  impressions  and 
circumstances  above  described,  to  hold  Christian  com- 
munion with  the  latter  ?" 

To  this  the  Assembly  replied,  "  that,  as  the  same 
difference  of  opinion  with  respect  to  slavery  takes 
place  in  sundry  other  parts  of  the  Presbyterian  Church, 
notwithstanding  which  they  live  in  charity  and  peace 
according  to  the  doctrine  and  practice  of  the  apostles, 
it  is  hereby  recommended  to  all  conscientious  persons, 
and  especially  to  those  whom  it  immediately  respects, 
to  do  the  same.  At  the  same  time,  the  General  Assem- 
bly assure  all  the  churches  under  their  care  that  they 
view  with  the  deepest  concern  any  vestiges  of  slavery 
which  may  exist  in  our  country,  and  refer  the  churches 
to  the  records  of  the  General  Assembly  published  at 
different  times,  but  especially  to  an  overture  of  the 
late  Synod  of  New  York  and  Philadelphia,  published 
in  1787,  and  republished  among  the  extracts  from  the 
Minutes  of  the  General  Assembly  of  1793,  on  that  head, 
with  which  they  trust  every  conscientious  person  will 
be  fully  satisfied." 

At  the  same  time,  Mr.  Rice,  of  Kentucky,  Dr.  Muir, 
of  Virginia,  and  Eobert  Patterson,  an  elder,  were  ap- 
pointed a  committee  to  draft  a  letter  to  the  Presby- 
tery of  Transylvania  on  the  subject  of  the  overture. 
The  report  of  the  committee  elicited  much  discussion. 


GENERAL   ASSEMBLY,    1789-1800.  285 

The  Original  draft  contained  a  paragraph  which  urged 
the  duty  of  the  religious  education  of  slaves.  "A 
neglect  of  this,"  it  declared,  "  is  inconsistent  with  the 
character  of  a  Christian  master;  but  the  observance 
might  prevent,  in  great  part,  what  is  really  the  moral 
evil  attending  slavery, — namely,  allowing  precious  souls 
under  the  charge  of  masters  to  perish  for  lack  of  know- 
ledge. Freedom  is  desirable,  but  cannot  at  all  times  be 
enjoyed  with  advantage.  A  parent,  to  set  his  child  loose 
from  all  authority,  would  be  doing  him  the  most  essen- 
tial injury.  *  *  *  A  slave  let  loose  upon  society  igno- 
rant, idle,  and  headstrong,  is  in  a  state  to  injure  others 
and  ruin  himself.  No  Christian  master  can  answer  for 
such  conduct  to  his  own  mind.  The  slave  must  first  be  in 
a  situation  to  act  properly  as  a  member  of  civil  society 
before  he  can  be  advantageously  introduced  therein/' 

The  entire  paragraph  containing  these  words  was 
stricken  out ;  and  the  Assembly,  while  urging  the  duty 
of  peace  and  forbearance,  contented  itself  with  saying, 
that  they  "  have  taken  every  step  which  they  deem 
expedient  or  wise  to  encourage  emancipation,  and  to 
render  the  state  of  those  who  are  in  slavery  as  mild 
and  tolerable  as  possible."  The  Presbytery  is  informed 
that  it  will  be  furnished  with  attested  copies  of  the 
Assembly's  decisions  upon  the  subject. 

The  original  edition  of  the  Confession  of  Faith  and 
Catechisms,  issued  by  the  Synod  of  New  York  and 
New  Jersey  as  "  The  Constitution  of  the  Presbyterian 
Church  in  the  United  States  of  America,"  was  published 
in  1789.  In  the  introduction  the  Synod  lay  down  "  a 
few  of  the  general  principles  by  which  they  have 
hitherto  been  governed,  and  which  are  the  ground- 
work" of  their  plan.  They  declare  themselves  unani- 
mously of  opinion  that  "  God  alone  is  Lord  of  the 
conscience."  They  disclaim  any  desire  "to  see  any 
religious  constitution  aided  by  the  civil  power,  further 


286  HISTORY    OF    PRESBYTERXANISM. 

than  may  be  necessary  for  protection  and  security ;" 
and  in  this  case  they  would  have  the  aid  "  equal  and 
common  to  all  others."  In  consistency  with  such  prin- 
ciples, they  hold  that  every  Christian  Church,  or  union 
or  association  of  particular  Churches,  is  entitled  to 
declare  the  terms  of  admission  to  its  communion,  the 
qualifications  of  its  ministers  and  members,  and  the 
whole  system  of  its  internal  government,  appointed  by 
Christ  for  the  preaching  of  the  gospel,  the  administer- 
ing of  the  sacraments,  the  exercise  of  discipline,  and 
the  preservation  of  truth  and  duty.  Holding,  more- 
over, to  "  an  inseparable  connection  between  faith  and 
practice,  truth  and  duty,"  they  deem  it  "  necessary  to 
make  effectual  provision  that  all  who  are  admitted  as 
teachers  be  sound  in  the  faith,"  while  they  profess  their 
belief  that  there  are  truths  and  forms  with  respect  to 
which  good  men  may  differ,  and  in  these  "  they  think 
it  the  duty  both  Of  private  Christians  and  societies  to 
exercise  mutual  forbearance  towards  each  other." 

Each  particular  society  is  entitled  also  to  elect  its 
own  officers,  while  Scripture  prescribes  their  character, 
qualifications,  and  authority.  All  Church  power,  more- 
over, is  ministerial  and  delegated  merely,  since  no 
Church  judicatory  may  make  laws  to  bind  the  con- 
science, and  all  its  decisions  should  be  founded  on 
God's  revealed  will.  While  Synods  and  Councils  may 
err,  yet  "  there  is  much  greater  danger  from  the 
usurped  claim  of  making  laws  than  from  the  right 
of  judging  upon  laws  already  made  and  common  to 
all  who  profess  the  gospel." 

Such  were  the  liberal  principles  which  the  Synod 
took  care  distinctly  to  enunciate  and  embody  in  the 
first  edition  of  the  Confession  of  Faith.  This  edition 
was  published  without  the  Scripture  proofs  usually 
appended;  it  was,  moreover,  soon  exhausted;  and 
it  had   been   issued   simply  by  the   authority  of  the 


mj-isoo.  287 

Synod.  In  1792,  therefore,  a  committee  was  ap- 
pointed by  the  Assembly  to  revise  and  prepare  for 
publication  an  edition  of  the  Confession,  Catechisms, 
and  Form  of  Government  and  Discipline.  The  com- 
mittee consisted  of  the  venerable  Dr.  Eobert  Smith,  of 
Pequa,  Eev.  Nathan  Grrier,  of  Forks  of  Brandywine, 
and  Eev.  Alexander  Mitchell,  of  Upper  Octorara. 
They  were  instructed  to  select  and  arrange  the  Scrip- 
ture texts  to  be  adduced  in  support  of  the  several  arti- 
cles in  the  Confession,  &c.  Dr.  Smith  undertook  to 
adduce  proofs  for  the  Larger  and  Mr.  Grier  for  the 
Shorter  Catechism  j  while  Mr.  Mitchell  was  to  do  the 
same  for  the  Confession  of  Faith  and  Form  of  Govern- 
ment. The  death  of  Dr.  Smith  left  his  task  incom- 
plete ;  and  in  1793  the  moderator,  James  Latta,  was 
substituted  in  his  place.  A  partial  report  was  made 
by  Mr.  Mitchell,  but  the  subject  was  recommitted  for 
a  report  to  the  Assembly  of  1794.  In  that  year  Dr. 
Green  and  Messrs.  John  B.  Smith,  James  Boyd, 
William  M.  Tennent,  Nathaniel  Irwin,  and  Andrew 
Hunter  were  appointed  to  examine  the  report  of  the 
committee,  revise  the  whole,  prepare  it  for  the  press, 
and  supervise  the  publication  and  sale  of  the  work. 
The  change  subsequently  made  in  the  striking  out  of 
certain  proofs  was  in  part  justified  on  the  ground  that 
the  work  of  the  committee  had  never  been  submitted 
to  the  Presbyteries  for  their  approval,  and  hence  could 
not  be  regarded  as  having  the  proper  sanction  of  the 
Church  as  a  part  of  its  Constitution. 

The  relations  of  the  Assembly  to  other  kindred 
ecclesiastical  bodies  were  now  to  be  defined.  The 
annual  convention  of  Presbyterian  and  Congrega- 
tional ministers  which  existed  before  the  Eevolution 
and  was  continued  down  to  1776,  had  testified  the 
strong  sympathy  which  existed  between  the  two  deno- 
minations which  were  represented  in  it.    It  manifested, 


288  HISTORY   OF   PRESBYTERIANISM.       ' 

moreover,  the  liberal  and  co-operative  spirit  of  the 
churches  represented  by  the  Old  Synod.  It  had  ac- 
complished the  main  object  for  which  it  had  been  insti- 
tuted; but,  in  view  of  other  results  still  to  be  desired, 
the  question  now  recurred  as  to  whether  it  should  be 
revived  or  some  substitute  provided. 

The  subject  was  carefully  considered.  While  there 
were  other  ecclesiastical  bodies — the  Eeformed  Dutch 
and  Associate  Presbyterian,  as  well  as  Congregational 
— to  be  taken  into  account,  it  was  felt  that  some  plan 
was  desirable  which  should  bring  the  Assembly  into 
correspondence  with  them  all.  The  consideration  of 
this  comprehensive  plan  was  not  neglected :  still,  the 
former  relations  of  the  Presbyterian  to  the  Congrega- 
tional Churches  entitled  the  latter  to  the  first  place  in 
the  Assembly's  regard.  In  view  of  this  fact,  therefore, 
the  following  resolution  was  unanimously  agreed  to  by 
the  Assembly  of  1790  : — 

"  Whereas  there  existed  before  the  late  Revolution 
an  annual  convention  of  the  clergy  of  the  Congrega- 
tional churches  in  New  England  and  ministers  belonging 
to  the  Synod  of  New  York  and  Philadelphia,  which  was 
interrupted  by  the  disorders  occasioned  by  the  war; — 
this  Assembly,  being  peculiarly  desirous  to  renew  and 
strengthen  every  bond  of  union  between  brethren  so 
nearly  agreed  in  doctrine  and  forms  of  worship  as  the 
members  of  the  Congregational  and  Presbyterian 
Churches  evidently  are,  and  remembering  with  much 
satisfaction  the  mutual  pleasure  and  advantage  pro- 
duced and  received  by  their  former  intercourse,  did 
resolve,  that  the  ministers  of  the  Congregational 
churches  in  New  England  be  invited  to  renew  their 
annual  convention  with  the  clergy  of  the  Presbyterian 
Church;  and  the  Assembly  did  for  this  purpose  ap- 
point the  Rev.  Dr.  Rodgers,  of  New  York,  and  the 
Rev.  Dr.  McWhorter,  of  Newark,  NJ.,  to  be  a  com- 


GENERAL    ASSEMBLY,    1789-1800.  289 

m  it  tee  to  take  such  measure's  for  the  obtaining  of  the 
proposed  object  as  they  may  jndge  (o  be  most  effectual, 
and  to  report  their  proceedings  to  the  General  Assem- 
bly at  their  next  meeting."1 

In  1791,  the  committee  thus  appointed  made  their 
report.  Three  modes  of  correspondence  were  proposed 
for  consideration  :  the  first,  by  letter  of  committees  of 
the  Assembly  and  the  Connecticut  Association  respect- 
ively )  the  second,  by  reviving  a  convention  similar  to 
that  which  existed  before  the  war;  and  the  third,  by 
sending  delegates  reciprocally  from  each  body. 

Action  on  the  several  plans  offered  was  deferred  till 
the  General  Association  of  Connecticut  had  been  con- 
sulted. Drs.  Withcrspoon,  Rodgers,  and  McWhorter, 
and  Messrs.  Chapman,  S.  S.  Smith,  Tennent,  and  Aus- 
tin, were  appointed  a  committee  to  confer  with  that 
body. 

The  result  of  this  conference  was  the  adoption  of 
measures  of  correspondence,  based  avowedly  on  "  the 
importance  of  union  and  harmony,"  and  "  the  duty 
incumbent  on  all  pastors  and  members  of  the  Christian 
Church  to  "  assist  each  other  in  promoting,  as  far  as 
possible,  the  general  interest  of  the  Redeemer's  king- 
dom;" and,  in  consideration  of  the  fact  that  "  Divine 
Providence  appears  to  be  opening  the  door  for  pur- 
suing  these  valuable  objects  with  a  happy  prospect  of 
success,"  it  was  deemed  best  that  the  two  bodies  should 
have,  each,  a  standing  committee  of  correspondence, 
besides  a  committee  of  three  members  having  the  right 
to  sit  in  each  other's  meetings  but  not  Xo  vote. 
Measures  were  to  be  taken  to  prevent  injury  to  the 
churches  by  irregular  and  unauthorized  preachers. 
The  Presbytery  or  Association  was  to  certify  to  the 


1  This  movement  was  made,  and  the  above  paper  drawn  up,  by 
Dr.  Ashbel  Green,  who  also  penned  the  Plan  of  Union  of  1801. 
Vol.  L— 25 


290  HISTORY    OF    PRESEYTERIANISM. 

character  of  its  members  travelling  at  a  distance;  anc1 
the  certificate  of  a  standing  committee,  to  be  appointed 
by  the  Assembly  and  General  Association  respectively, 
was  to  secure  their  reception  as  authorized  preachers 
of  the  gospel  in  the  bounds  of  the  body,  whether  Pres- 
bytery or  Association,  within  which  they  might  be  em- 
ployed. 

The  plan  thus  proposed  by  the  convention  was  una- 
nimously and  cordially  approved  by  the  Assembly  of 
1792,  and  the  necessary  measures  were  taken  for 
carrying  it  into  effect.  It  was  endorsed  by  the  Asso- 
ciation of  Connecticut,  the  only  tangible  ecclesiastical 
body  in  New  England  with  which  the  Assembly  could 
correspond;  and  in  1793  Timothy  Dwight,  Jonathan 
Edwards  (afterward  President  of  Union  College),  and 
Matthias  Burnet,  took  their  seats  in  the  Assembly  as 
delegates  of  the  General  Association. 

From  this  period  the  intercourse  by  correspondence 
between  the  two  bodies  was  continued  without  inter- 
ruption. The  delegates  of  each  body  were  allowed  a 
seat,  but  not  a  vote,  in  the  one  to  which  they  were 
sent.  There  was  a  change,  however,  soon  made,  when 
full  membership  was  allowed.  On  motion  of  Dr.  Eod- 
gers,  the  plan  was  so  amended  in  1794  that  the  dele- 
gates from  each  body  respectively  were  allowed  the 
right  not  only  to  sit  and  deliberate,  but  also  "  to  vote 
in  all  questions  which  might  be  determined  by  either 
of  them."  The  Association  voted  a  compliance  with 
this  proposal  of  the  Assembly,  and  down  to  1827  the 
delegates  of  the  General  Associations  of  Connecticut, 
and  afterward  of  Vermont  (1809),  New  Hampshire 
(1810),  and  Massachusetts  (1811),  were  allowed  full 
membership  in  the  General  Assembly.  Massachusetts 
was  not  ready  to  relinquish  her  claim  to  the  exercise 
of  the  right  which  was  thus  conceded  until  1830,  and 


GENERAL    ASSEMBLY,    1789-1800.  291 

even  then  only  after  repeated  representations  from  the 
Assembly.1 

The  correspondence  proposed  between  the  General 
Assembly  and  the  Associate  Reformed  and  Reformed 
Dutch  Synods  was,  after  a  delay  of  some  years,  referred 
to  a  convention  of  delegates  from  the  three  bodies 
which  met  in  New  York  in  1798.  Their  report  was 
adopted  by  the  General  Assembly,  but  rejected  by  the 
other  two  bodies.  No  active  measures  to  revive  this 
or  a  similar  plan  were  taken  for  nearly  twenty  years. 

The  subject  of  Psalmody  was  one  which  gave  no 
small  occasion  of  anxiety  to  those  who  sought  the 
union  and  harmony  of  the  churches.  The  Synod  of 
New  York  and  Philadelphia  had  left  the  congregations 
to  their  own  deliberate  preferences  in  regard  to  the  book 
to  be  used.  Some  still  adhered  to  the  old  version  of 
the  Psalms,  and  some  preferred  Watts's  Imitation.  At 
the  first  meeting  of  the  Assembly,  Adam  Rankin  asked 
to  be  heard  on  the  subject.  He  had  crossed  the  moun- 
tains from  Kentucky  to  disburden  his  mind  of  the 
apprehensions  which  he  felt  in  regard  to  "  the  great 
and  pernicious  error"  into  which  the  Synod  had  fallen 
by  "  disusing  Rouse's  Versification  of  David's  Psalms 
in  public  worship,  and  adopting,  in  place  of  it,  Watts's 
Imitation."  He  asked  the  privilege  of  being  heard 
upon  a  subject  in  regard  to  which — with  all  the  inten- 
sity of  his  Scotch  nature,  aggravated  by  memories  of 

1  In  1796  the  Synod  of  Philadelphia  resolved  tb  submit  to  the 
consideration  of  the  next  General  Assembly  the  propriety  of  taking- 
constitutional  measures  to  effect  an  alteration  in  the  Form  of  Gov- 
ernment, so  as  to  admit  Assemblies  to  meet  only  once  in  three 
years,  if  they  judge  it  expedient.  The  reason  urged  for  this  was 
the  difficulty  of  convening  even  a  quorum  of  the  Synod,  inasmuch 
as  its  meetings  seemed  almost  unnecessary,  from  the  fact  that  its 
proper  business  had  been  so  largely  engrossed  by  the  Assembly. — 
Minutes,  1790-1820,  p.  110. 


202  HISTORY    OF    PRESBYTEBIANISM. 

a  martyred  ancestry — he  felt  deeply.  He  was  heard 
"  at  great  length,"  and  the  Assembly  endeavored  to 
relieve  him  from  the  difficulty  under  which  he  appeared 
to  labor,  but  to  little  purpose.  His  mind  was  not  open 
to  conviction  j  and  it  only  remained  for  the  Assembly 
to  exhort  him  to  Christian  charity  and  to  guard  against 
disturbing  the  peace  of  the  churches. 

Eankin  identified  the  permission  given  by  the  Synod 
(1787)  to  use  Barlow's  revision  of  Watts,  with  an  ex- 
clusive endorsement  of  it.  In  this  he  was  mistaken  j 
but  the  importance  of  uniformity  among  the  churches 
in  the  form  and  order  of  public  worship  had  already 
led  man}-  to  consider  the  policy  of  procuring  a  book 
which  would  meet  the  necessities  of  the  churches  under 
the  care  of  the  Assembly.  Nothing  of  importance  was 
done,  however,  before  1800.  Three  years  previous 
(1797),  President  Dwight  was  requested  by  the  General. 
Association  of  Connecticut  to  revise  Watts's  Imitation 
so  as  to  accommodate  it  to  the  state  of  the  American 
churches,  and  to  supply  the  deficiency  of  those  Psalms 
which  Watts  had  omitted.  This  measure  was  adopted 
in  consequence  of  the  ill  odor  which  Barlow's  career 
in  connection  with  French  politics  had  given  to  his 
edition  of  Watts.  Its  use  in  Presbyterian  as  well  as 
Congregational  churches  had  become  obnoxious,  and 
the  advocates  of  Eouse  found  a  very  opportune  argu- 
ment against  the  book  which  had  been  the  rival  of 
their  own  favorite. 

In  these  circumstances,  Dwight  undertook  the  task. 
He  possessed  the  confidence  of  both  the  Presbyterian 
and  Congregational  Churches,  and  had  sat  and  voted  as 
a  member  of  the  General  Assembly.  When  his  task 
was  wellnigh  complete,  the  Assembly  were  informed 
of  it,  and,  with  a  view  to  procure  a  work  that  should 
answer  the  demands  of  its  own  churches,  appointed  a 
committee  (1800)  to  meet  a  similar  committee  of  tho 


GENERAL    ASSEMBLY,    1789-1800.  293 

General  Association,  at  Stamford,  to  examine  the  result 
of  Dwi<rht's  labors.  The  committee  consisted  of  Drs. 
John  Bodgers,  Jonathan  Edwards,  and  Asa  Hillyer. 
They  reported  their  approval  of  what  had  been  done, 
and  President  Dwight,  at  the  recommendation  of  the 
joint  committee,  appended  to  the  Psalms  a  collection 
of  two  hundred  and  sixty-three  hymns.  The  volume 
in  this  revised  form,  with  additions,  was  "  cheerfully 
allowed"  by  the  Assembly  to  congregations  and 
churches  which  might  find  it  for  edification. 

Thus  cautious  and  guarded  was  the  Assembly  in  its 
utterances  upon  the  subject.  Nor  was  it  without  reason. 
The  exclusive  advocacy  of  any  form  of  Psalmody  would 
have  rent  the  Church  in  sunder.  In  Kentucky  espe- 
cially, and  in  other  parts  of  the  Church  where  Eouse 
had  been  in  familiar  use,  its  advocates  regarded  it  with 
a  strange  tenacity  of  affection.  It  was  as  sacred  in 
their  view  as  the  Confession  itself.  The  Presbytery 
of  Charleston — succeeding  to  that  which  was  known 
as  the  Presbytery  of  South  Carolina  before  the  Eevolu- 
tion,  and  which  had  applied  in  1770  to  know  the  terms 
on  which  it  might  be  united  with  the  Synod — sent  a 
communication  to  the  Assembly  of  1800,  desiring  to 
be  taken  into  connection  with  that  body;  but  they 
explicitly  stipulated,  as  an  indispensable  condition  on 
their  part,  that  they  must  not  be  disturbed  in  their 
edifying  enjoyment  of  Eouse;  and  it  seems  not  impro- 
bable that  even  the  moderate  measure  of  the  Assembly 
in  regard  to  Dwight's  book  may  have  led  to  their 
deferring  any  further  steps  toward  the  union.  It  is  at 
least  certain  that  it  was  not  consummated  till  several 
years  later. 

At  the  Assembly  of  1791,  several  of  the  Synods  sent 
in  reports  in  regard  to  their  condition  and  extent.1 

1  See  Assembly's  Minutes. 
25* 


294  HISTORY    OP    PRESBYTERIANISM. 

The  Synod  of  New  York  and  New  Jersey  consisted  of 
four  Presbyteries, — Suffolk,  Dutchess,  New  York,  and 
New  Brunswick.  The  first  consisted  of  twelve,  tho 
second  of  six,  the  third  of  twenty-seven,  and  the  fourth 
of  fourteen,  ministers.  Within  their  bounds  were  thirty- 
five  vacancies,  about  one-half  of  which  were  able  to 
support  a  pastor.  In  the  following  year  the  Presby- 
tery of  Albany,  with  seven  ministers  and  more  than 
twenty  congregations,  the  larger  portion  of  them 
vacant,  was  reported  in  connection  with  the  Synod  of 
New  York  and  New  Jersey.  The  other  Presbyteries 
now  numbered  fifty-four  ministers  and  sixty-eight  con- 
gregations. 

In  the  same  year  (1792),  the  report  of  the  Synod  of 
Philadelphia  showed  that  it  consisted  of  five  Presby- 
teries, with  an  aggregate — independent  of  the  Presby- 
tery of  Baltimore,  from  which  there  was  no  report — of 
sixty  ministers  and  ninety-two  congregations.  The 
Synod  of  Virginia,  exclusive  of  the  Presbytery  of 
Transylvania,  numbered,  in  the  three  Presbyteries  of 
Hanover,  Eedstone,  and  Lexington,  thirty-two  ordained 
ministers,  with  more  than  ninety  congregations.  A 
larsre  number  of  these  were  in  the  bounds  of  Redstone 
Presbytery,  which  alone  numbered  twenty-four.  The 
Synod  of  the  Carolinas — exclusive  of  the  Presbytery 
of  Abingdon,  which  made  no  report — contained  in  the 
Presbyteries  of  Orange  and  South  Carolina  twenty 
settled  ministers,  thirteen  unsettled,  a  portion  of  them 
licentiates,  with  over  eighty  congregations,  twenty-nine 
of  which  were  vacant  in  the  bounds  of  South  Carolina 
Presbytery  alone.  The  aggregate  in  all  the  Synods 
was  not  far  from  two  hundred  ministers  and  about 
four  hundred  congregations. 

There  had  thus,  in  the  three  years  which  had  elapsed 
since  the  formation  of  the  General  Assembly,  been  a 
rapid  growth  and  extension  of  the  Church.     Nor  were 


GENERAL    ASSEMBLY,    17S9-1S0O.  295 

the  labors  of  the  ministry  denied  signal  marks  of  the 
Divine  favor  in  powerful  revivals  in  different  parts  of 
the  land.  The  rekindled  missionary  spirit — dating  from 
the  formation  of  the  New  York  Missionary  Society  in 
1797 — which    was    first    felt    on    the   Atlantic    slope, 
extended    westward    beyond    the   Alleghanies,   in  Vir- 
ginia, Pennsylvania.  Kentucky,  and  Tennessee.     New 
churches  were  gathered  on  the  frontier,  and  new  Pres- 
byteries were  reported  at  each  successive  General  As- 
sembly.    In   1793,  the  Presbytery  of  Ohio,  with  five 
members,  was  set  off  from  the  Presbytery  of  Eedstone, 
which  in  ten  years  had  multiplied  its  numbers  more 
than  fourfold.     In  the  following  year  the  Presbytery 
of  Huntingdon,  with  ten  members,  was  set  off   from 
that  of  Carlisle,  erected  by  the  old  Synod  of  New  York 
and  Philadelphia  at  the  period  just  previous  to  its  divi- 
sion into  the  four  Synods.     In  the  same  year  the  Pres- 
bytery of  Winchester,  with  five  members,  was  set  off 
from  that  of  Lexington.     In  1795,  the  Presbytery  of 
Hudson,  with  seven  members,  was  formed  of  ministers 
and  churches  taken  from  the  Presbyteries  of  Dutchess 
county  a,nd  New  York.     In  the  same  year  the  Pres- 
bytery of  Orange,  in  the  Carolinas,  was  divided,  and 
the  Presbytery  of  Concord  erected  with  twelve  mem- 
bers.    In  the  following  year  the  Presbytery  of  Hope- 
well, with  five  members,  was  set  off  from  the  Presby- 
tery of  South  Carolina.     In  1797,  the  Presbytery  of 
Abingdon  was  divided,  and  that  of  Union,  with  five 
members,  was  erected  out  of  it  in  Eastern  Tennessee. 
In  1799,  the  Presbytery  of  Transylvania  was  divided 
to  form  the  new  Presbyteries  of  West  Lexington  and 
Washington,  the  three   subsequently  constituting  the 
Synod  of  Kentucky.     In  the  same  year,  also,  the  Pres- 
bytery of  South  Carolina  was  divided  to  form  the  First 
and  Second  Presbyteries  of  that  name. 

Thus  before  the  close  of  the  last  century  the  number 


296  HISTORY    OF    PRESBYTERIANISM. 

of  Presbyteries  had  increased  from  sixteen,  the  num- 
ber at  the  time  of  the  organization  of  a  General  Assem- 
bly, to  twenty-six,  and  the  strength  and  numbers  of 
the  Church  had  increased  in  nearly  the  same  propor- 
tion. 

This  increase  was  certainly  greater  than  in  the  cir- 
cumstances could  have  been  expected.  The  influences 
of  the  War  of  the  Eevolution  were  eminently  disastrous 
to  the  churches,  not  only  on  account  of  the  direct  in- 
juries inflicted,  and  the  diversion  of  thought  and  energy 
into  new  channels,  but  on  account  of  the  sympathy 
excited  in  favor  of  France  and  French  principles.  This 
sympathy  prepared  the  way  for  French  infidelity,  and 
its  emissaries,  in  the  proud  assumption  of  superior 
intelligence,  were  bold  and  unblushing  in  their  attempt 
to  spread  their  errors  and  undermine  the  institutions 
of  Christianity.  In  these  efforts  they  were  only  too 
successful.  The  cause  of  religion  in  many  parts  of  the 
land  seemed  to  be  on  the  decline,  and  the  prospect  grew 
darker  and  more  discouraging  with  each  succeeding 
year.  Good  men  despaired  of  the  republic,  and  Chris- 
tian men  trembled  for  the  Ark  of  God.  The  evil  seems 
to  have  reached  its  crisis  in  1798.  In  that  year  the 
Assembly  felt  called  upon  to  give  expression  to  its 
apprehensions,  and  to  sound  the  note  of  warning.  This 
it  did  in  an  earnest  and  startling  tone. 

"  When  formidable  innovations  and  convulsions  in 
Europe" — such  was  the  language  of  the  pastoral  letter 
— "  threaten  destruction  to  morals  and  religion;  when 
scenes  of  devastation  and  bloodshed,  unexampled  in  the 
history  of  modern  nations,  have  convulsed  the  world ; 
and  when  our  own  country  is  threatened  with  similar 
calamities,  insensibility  in  us  would  be  stupidity,  silence 
would  be  criminal.  . .  .We  desire  to  direct  your  awakened 
attention  toward  that  bursting  storm  which  threatens 
to  sweep  before  it  the  religious  principles,  institutions, 


GENERAL   ASSEMBLY,    17S9-1800.  207 

and  morals  of  our  people.  We  arc  filled  with  decjj 
concern  and  awful  dread,  whilst  we  announce  it  as  our 
conviction  that  the  eternal  God  has  a  controversy  with 
our  nation  and  is  about  to  visit  us  in  his  sore  displea- 
sure." 

In  this  "  solemn  crisis,"  the  Assembly  believe  that 
the  causes  of  the  calamities  felt  or  feared  are  traceable 
to  "  a  general  defection  from  God,  and  corruption  of 
the  public  principles  and  morals."  The  evidences  of 
the  national  guilt  were  seen  in  "a  general  dereliction 
of  religious  principles  and  practice  amongst  our  fellow- 
citizens;  a  great  departure  from  the  faith  and  simple 
purity  of  manners  for  which  our  fathers  were  remark- 
able; a  visible  and  prevailing  impiety  and  contempt 
for  the  laws  and  institutions  of  religion  ;  and  an  abound- 
ing infidelity  which  in  many  instances  tends  to  athe- 
ism itself,  which  contemptuously  rejects  God's  eternal 
Son,  our  Saviour,  ridicules  the  gospel  and  its  most  sacred 
mysteries,  denies  the  providence  of  God,  grieves  and 
insults  the  Holy  Spirit;  in  a  word,  which  assumes  a 
front  of  daring  impiety,  and  possesses  a  mouth  filled 
with  blasphemy." 

In  this  alarming  state  of  things,  "  a  dissolution  of 
religious  society"  seemed  to  be  threatened  by  "  the 
supineness  and  inattention  of  many  ministers  and  pro- 
fessors of  Christianity."  "Formality  and  deadness, 
not  to  say  hypocrisy,  a  contempt  for  vital  godliness 
and  the  spirit  of  fervent  piety,  a  desertion  of  the 
ordinances,  or  a  cold  and  unprofitable  attendance  upon 
them,"  visibly  pervaded  every  part  of  the  Church  ;  while 
there  were  those  who  denied  or  attempted  to  explain 
away  the  pure  doctrines  of  the  gospel,  introducing 
errors  once  unnamed,  or  named  with  abhorrence,  but 
now  "embraced  by  deluded  multitudes."  The  profana- 
tion of  the  Sabbath,  the  neglect  of  family  religion  and 
instruction,  ingratitude  to  God  for  his  benefits,  "profli- 


298  HISTORY    OF    TRESBYTERIANISM. 

gacy  anjcl  corruption  of  public  morals,  profaneness, 
pride,  luxury,  injustice,  intemperance,  lewdness,  and 
every  species  of  debauchery  and  loose  indulgence," 
were  sins  which  greatly  abounded.  In  view  of  all  this, 
and  the  provocation  it  offered  to  divine  justice,  there 
was  reason  for  foreboding.  Deep  humiliation,  sincere 
repentance  for  individual  as  well  as  national  sins,  sup- 
plication for  the  outpouring  of  the  Spirit  and  a  revival 
of  God's  work, — these  were  the  duties  most  solemnly 
and  earnestly  enjoined;  and,  to  give  effect  to  the  exhort- 
ations and  admonitions  of  the  letter,  the  Assembly 
recommended  the  last  Thursday  in  the  next  August  as 
a  day  of  solemn  humiliation,  fasting,  and  prayer,  in  all 
the  congregations  subject  to  its  care.1  The  letter  itself 
was  to  be  read  on  that  occasion  and  its  truths  to  be 
enforced  in  appropriate  discourses. 

The  statements  of  the  Assembly,  grave  and  startling 
as  they  were,  were  by  no  means  exaggerated.  The 
prospect  for  religious  progress  or  improvement  was 
almost  cheerless.  By  public  men  in  high  station,  infi- 
delity was  boldly  avowed.  In  some  places,  society, 
taking  its  tone  from  them,  seemed  hopelessly  surren- 
dered to  the  tender  mercies  of  the  impious  and  the 
blasphemer. 

But,  ere  the  Assembly  met  again  (in  1799),  the  signs 
of  a  great  change,  which  was  largely  to  affect  the  very 
character  of  the  nation,  were  apparent.  The  great 
revivals  of  Kentucky,  of  Central  and  Western  New 
York,  and  of  New  England,  were  heralded  here  and 
there  by  scenes  that  testified  to  the  unabated  power  of, 
the  gospel  when  forcibly  presented  and  applied  by  the 


1  A  general  fast  was  appointed  by  the  General  Conference  of  the 
Methodist  Church,  for  the  first  Friday  of  March,  1796,  for  the  same 
reasons,  substantially,  as  those  given  by  the  General  Assembly. — 
Baj.gs's  History  of  dfcthodism,  ii.  22. 


GENERAL    ASSEMBLY,    1789-1S00.  299 

power  of  the  Spirit.  The  little  cloud,  "no  bigger  than 
a  man's  hand,"  had  expanded  and  given  promise  of 
showers  that  were  to  refresh  and  clothe  with  verdure 
the  desert  sands.  The  Assembly  of  1799  could  say, 
that,  amid  much  lukewarmness  and  formality,  they  had 
"heard  from  different  parts  glad  tidings  of  the  out- 
pouring of  the  Spirit,  and  of*  times  of  refreshing  from 
the  presence  of  the  Lord."  "  From  the  East,"  they 
said,  "from  the  West,  and  from  the  South,  have  these 
glad  tidings  reached  our  ears."  The  report  concluded 
with  a  stirring  appeal  to  the  churches,  couched  in  a 
style  of  lofty  and  sustained  eloquence.  It  was  from 
the  pen  of  the  moderator,  Samuel  Stanhope  Smith. 

In  the  following  year  (1800)  the  report  was  still 
cheering,  especially  from  the  West.  The  success  of 
missionary  labors  was  "  greatly  on  the  increase."  God 
was  "  shaking  the  valley  of  dry  bones  on  the  frontiers." 
"  A  spiritual  resurrection"  was  taking  place  there. 
Hundreds  in  a  short  time,  and  among  them  some  who 
had  been  avowed  infidels  and  Universalists,  had  been 
received  into  the  communion  of  the  Church. 

Thus,  the  century  which  was  just  closing,  and  which 
had  threatened  to  close  with  dark  and  dismal  prospects, 
was  destined  to  leave  behind  it  a  brighter  record.  A 
new  era  had  dawned  upon  the  Church, — an  era  of  re- 
vivals. A  larger  measure  of  missionary  zeal  was  mani- 
fest. The  spiritual  lethargy  of  the  nation  was  shaken 
by  the  reports  which  came  from  the  West  and  from  the 
new  settlements.  Infidelity  had  been  attacked  in  some 
of  its  strongholds,  and  it  had  fallen  before  the  power 
of  truth.  The  sad  effects  of  the  War  of  the  Revolution 
upon  the  churches  began  to  disappear,  and.  with  in- 
spiring intelligence  to  cheer  them,  the  pastors  of  the 
Church  and  the  missionaries  on  the  frontiers  responded 
with  alacrity  to  the  Assembly's  appeals.1 

1  Only  an  approximate  estimate  of  the  strength  of  the  Presby- 


300  HISTORY    OF    PRESBYTERIANISM, 


CHAPTER  XV. 

NEW    JERSEY    AND    PENNSYLVANIA,  1789-1800. 

At  the  time  of  the  formation  of  the  General  Assem- 
bly, the  strength  of  the  Church  was  to  be  found  prin- 
cipally in  New  Jersey  and  Pennsylvania.  These  two 
States  embraced  more  than  half  the  churches  and 
nearly  half  the  ministers  under  the  care  of  the  Assem- 
bly. Within  the  State  of  New  Jersey  was  included 
the  greater  portion  of  the  two  Presbyteries  of  New 
York  and  New  Brunswick,  which  numbered  on  this 
field  twenty-six  ministers  and  forty -three  churches.1 

At  Newark,  after  a  briefly-interrupted  pastorate  of 
nearly  thirty  years,  which  had  been  signalized  by  three 
powerful  and  extensive  revivals  of  religion,  was  the 
venerable  McWhorter,  still  in  the  vigor  of  his  years 
and  the  meridian  of  his  usefulness.  A  classical  scholar, 
a  popular  preacher,  a  self-denying  and  devoted  patriot, 
he  commanded  the  respect  of  the  entire  community, 
while  his  unquestioned  piety  and  practical  wisdom  in- 
spired a  more  than  usual  measure  of  confidence.  There 
was  a  noble  manliness  in  his  countenance,  person,  and 
movements,  which  would  have  sufficed,  without  "  his 
clerical  robes  and  large  full  wig,"  to  produce  an  abiding 
and  favorable  impression  on  the  beholder.     Dignified 

terian  Church  at  the  close  of  the  period  here  reviewed  (1789-1800) 
can  be  made,  owing  to  the  imperfection  of  the  reports.  The  num- 
ber of  ministers,  however,  could  not  have  been  much  short  of  two 
hundred  and  fifty,  while  the  churches,  which  in  great  numbers 
were  vacant,  must  have  been  something  over  four  hundred  and 
fifty. 

1  Exclusive  of  those  in  the  southern  part  of  the  State. 


NEW    JERSEY    AND    PENNSYLVANIA,    1789-1800.        301 

in  manner,  perspicuous  in  expression,  and  yet  under 
the  prompting  of  quick,  strong  sympathies,  the  plain 
correctness  of  his  diction  sometimes  kindled  into  fervor 
or  was  Bubdued  to  pathos.  Faithful  alike  in  the  pulpit, 
in  the  discharge  of  pastoral  duty,  and  in  attendance 
upon  the  judicatories  of  the  Church,  he  holds  a  high 
rank  and  an  unblemished  name  among  the  venerable 
fathers  of  the  Assembly  which  he  helped  to  organize, 
and  among  the  pulpit  celebrities  of  his  own  day.  For 
sixteen  years  more  he  was  .to  be  spared  to  labor  at  his 
post,  and  then  bequeath  his  tailing  mantle  to  one  well 
worthy  to  wear  it, — the  gifted,  eloquent,  and  lamented 
Griffin. 

At  Princeton,  serving  still,  as  he  had  done  for  more 
than  twenty  years,  as  pastor  of  the  church  and  Presi- 
dent of  the  college,  was  Dr.  Witherspoon,  already 
verging  upon  his  "threescore  and  ten," — the  light  of 
one  eye  already  quenched,  the  vigor  of  his  frame  some- 
what shaken,  but  with  an  intellect  as  unclouded  as 
ever,  and  with  a  presence  still  second  only  to  that  of 
Washington.1  For  five  years  more  he  was  to  be  spared, 
continuing  in  the  discharge  of  his  duties  as  President 
and  pastor,  and  surrendering  only  with  his  life  the  post 
he  had  so  long  tilled  and  adorned.2 

At  Orange,  in  the  full  exercise  of  that  vigor  of  mind 
and  that  energy  of  character  which  ten  years  later 
designated  him  as  the  fittest  missionary  pioneer  for 
Central  New  York,  was  Jedediah  Chapman,  a  native 
of  Connecticut,  a  man  of  ardent  piety,  urbane  in  man- 
ners, sound  in  judgment,  and,  although  not  an  orator, 
in  the  full  sense  of  the  word,  an  acceptable  and  in- 


1  Dr.  Asbbel  Green,  in  Sprague's  Annals,  iii.  297. 

2  Samuel  Finley  Snowden  was  installed  pastor  at  Princeton 
November  25,  1794,  dismissed  April  29,  1801. — Spra(/uc,s  Annals, 
iii.  341. 

Vol.  T.— 2C 


302  HISTORY    OF    PRESBYTERIANISM. 

structive  speaker.  The  other  principal  ministers  of 
the  State  were  Samuel  Stanhope  Smith,  the  son-in-law 
of  Dr.  Witherspoon,  now  a  professor,  and  soon  to  suc- 
ceed to  the  Presidency,  at  Princeton  ;  John  Woodhull, 
already  for  ten  years  pastor  at  Freehold,  where  for 
thirty-five  years  longer  he  was  to  be  spared  to  labor; 
James  F.  Armstrong,  the  successor  of  the  lamented 
Spencer,  at  Trenton,  where  for  sixteen  years  more, 
under  great  infirmities  of  body,  he  was  to  discharge 
his  ministerial  duties ;  Azel  Eoe,  of  Revolutionary  and 
somewhat  facetious  memory,  at  Woodbridge;  Aaron 
Richards,  at  Rahway  j  Jonathan  Elmer,  at  New  Provi- 
dence j  John  Joline,  at  Mendham ;  Israel  Reed,  at 
Bound  Brook;  Thomas  Smith,  at  Cranberry;  Joseph 
Roe,  at  Pennington ;  Joseph  Clark,  at  Allentown ; 
William  Boyd,  at  Lamington ;  Peter  Wilson,  at  Inde- 
pendence and  Mansfield ;  Ira  Condict,  at  Hardwick ; 
Newton,  at  Shapanack  ;  Dr.  Timothy  Johnes,  at  Morris- 
town;  Asa  Dunham,  at  Mount  Bethel  and  Oxford;  and 
Walter  Monteith,  at  New  Brunswick. 

During  the  ten  years  that  followed,  the  population 
of  the  State  increased  about  fourteen  per  cent.  The 
churches  grew  in  about  the  same  proportion  in  strength 
and  numbers.  In  1794  there  was  a  powerful  revival  at 
Newark,  but  the  state  of  religion  generally  was  far  from 
prosperous.  The  views  of  French  infidelity  had  begun 
to  pervade  the  country.  The  voice  of  admonition  and 
alarm  uttered  by  the  Assembly  in  1798  was  called  for 
by  the  general  declension  of  religion.  The  following 
year,  however,  brought  to  view  more  cheering  pros- 
pects. The  churches  of  the  State  shared  to  some 
extent  in  the  revival,  and  the  century  closed  with  such 
signs  of  progress  as  had  not  been  witnessed  for  many 
years  previous.  New  churches  were  reported  at  Wood- 
bridge  (Second),  Hackettstown  and  Pleasant  Grove, 
Flemington  and  Hardwick.    The  changes  in  the  several 


NEW    JERSEY    AND    PENNSYLVANIA,    1789-1800.        303 

pastorates  had  been  few.  The  noble-hearted  and  <]o- 
vout  Robert  Finley  had  commenced  his  pastorate  at 
Baskingridge  in  1705.  The  clear-headed  and  genial 
Amzi  Armstrong1  had  succeeded  Joline  at  Mendham 
in  the  following  year.  Samuel  Stanhope  Smith  had 
been  chosen  to  the  Presidency  of  Nassau  Hall;  and  in 
1798,  George  S.  Woodhull,  son  of  Dr.  Woodhull,  of  Free- 
hold,  was  settled  at  Cranberry,  where  he  remained 
until  his  transfer  to  Princeton  in  1820.2 

Besides  these,  we  find  several  new  names,  at  a  date 
shortly  subsequent,3  on  the  list  of  the  two  Presbyteries 
of  the  State.  Elias  Eiggs  had  succeeded  John  Young 
at  Connecticut  Farms;  Eleazar  Burnet  had  taken  the 
place  of  Eichards  at  Eahway;  Aaron  Condict  com- 
menced in  1796  his  thirty-five  years'  pastorate  at  Han- 
over ;  Henry  Cook  had  charge  of  Woodbridge  Second 
Church ;  Israel  Ward  had  succeeded  Elmer  at  New 
Providence;  John  Cornwall  was  settled  at  Allentown 
and  Nottingham ;  David  Barclay  had  succeeded  Israel 
Eeed  at  Bound  Brook ;  Joseph  Clark  was  settled  at 
New  Brunswick  in  place  of  Monteith,  who  died  in 
1799  at  Albany;  William  B.  Sloan  was  at  Greenwich, 
Thomas  Grant  at  Amwell  and  Flemington,  David 
Comfort  at  Kingston,  and  Holloway  W.  Hunt  at  Beth- 
lehem, Kingswood,  and  Alexandria.* 

Within  the  limits  of  the  State  of  Pennsylvania,  at 
the  time  of  the  formation  of  the  Assembly,  there  were, 

i  Father  of  Rev.  William  J.  Armstrong,  late  Secretary  of  the  A.  B. 
C.  F.  M. 

2  Gilbert  Tennent  Snowden  was  pastor  at  Cranberry  from  1700  to 
1707.  He  was  the  brother  of  S.  F.  Snowden,  settled  at  about  the 
same  time  at  Princeton,  and  of  Nathaniel  R.  Snowden,  of  Harris- 
burg,  Pennsylvania. 

3  Assembly's  Minutes,  1803. 

4  The  churches  in  the  southern  part  of  the  State  were  ecclesias- 
tically connected  with  Pennsylvania  Presbyteries. 


304  HISTORY    OF    TRESm' TERIAtflSM. 

besides  a  few  churches  connected  with  the  Presbytery 

of  ^ew  Castle,  three  Presbyteries, — Philadelphia,  Car- 
lisle, and  Redstone, — embracing  an  aggregate  of  forty- 
seven  ministers  and  more  than  twice  as  many  churches. 
In  numerous  instances,  two  or  more  of  these  were 
united  to  constitute  a  .single  pastoral  charge,  while 
more  than  forty,  most  of  them  too  feeble  to  support  a 
pastor,  were  vacant. 

The  leading  member  of  Philadelphia  Presbytery 
— already  for  thirty  years  the  pastor  of  the  first  church 
in  that  city,  ami  for  ten  years  at  the  head  of  the  Uni- 
versity of  Pennsylvania,  as  provost  of  the  institution — 
was  Dr.  John  Ewing,  now  in  the  fifty-eighth  year  of 
his  age,  and  destined  for  thirteen  years  more  to  occupy 
the  same  commanding  position.  In  natural  science 
and  classical  learning  he  had  scarcely  a  rival  on  the 
continent.  In  every  branch  of  collegiate  study  he  was 
thoroughly  versed.  His  Hebrew  Bible  was  constantly 
at  his  side,  and  was  used  from  choice  for  devotional 
purposes.  At  an  hour's  warning  he  was  ready  and 
fully  competent  to  supply  the  place  of  any  professor 
who  might  chance  to  be  absent.  In  the  pulpit  he 
sacrificed  nothing  to  display  ;  yet  with  a  cultivated 
audience  few  preachers  were  more  popular.  On  his 
visit  to  England  before  the  Revolution,  he  had  frequent 
interviews  with  Lord  Xorth,  and,  with  all  the  firmness 
and  zeal  of  an  ardent  whig,  predicted  the  issue  of  the 
approaching  contest,  warning  the  prime  minister 
against  its  prosecution.  In  conference  with  Dr.  John- 
son, he  tamed  the  rudeness,  if  not  insolence,  of  the  in- 
tellectual giant,  defending  in  fearless  tone  the  cause 
of  his  country.  After  liberally  applying  the  terms 
rebels  and  scoundrels  to  the  population  of  the  colonies, 
Johnson  turned  rudely  to  Dr.  Ewing,  demanding, 
"What  do  you  know  in  America?  You  never  read; 
you  have  no  books  there."     "  Pardon  me,  sir,"  said  Dr. 


1789-1800.        305 

Bwing:  "we  have  read  the  Rambler."  The  graceful 
blending  of  retort  and  compliment  pacified  the  savage 
essayist,  and  till  midnight  he  sat  with  Dr.  Ewing  in 
amiable  and  genial  conversation. 

In  charge  of  the  Second  Church,  after  nearly  half  a 
century  of  pastoral  labor,  was  Dr.  James  Sproat,  a 
native  of  Massachusetts,  and  a  graduate  of  Yale  College, 
in  a  class  of  which  Dr.  Buell,  of  Long  Island,  Dr.  Hop- 
kins, of  Newport,  and  Governor  Livingston,  of  New 
Jersej*,  were  members.  Till  1787  he  was  sole  pastor 
of  the  church ;  but  at  this  time  he  received  for  his 
colleague  Ashbel  Green,  whose  protracted  period  of 
service  has  seemed  to  link  together  the  present  cen- 
tury with  the  past. 

At  the  time  of  the  formation  of  the  General  Assem- 
bly, Dr.  Sproat,  though  bending  under  the  burden  of 
years,  was  a  venerable-looking  man.  With  a  benevo- 
lent countenance,  gentle  and  courteous  manners,  even 
the  wig  and  the  cocked  hat  which  he  still  retained 
could  scarcely  have  added  to  the  dignity  of  his  bearing. 
Asa  speaker,  he  was  easy  and  graceful.  He  "  was  such 
a  perfect  master  of  the  art  of  persuasion  that  he 
triumphed  over  the  passions  of  the  most  crowded  audi- 
tory with  all  the  charms  of  sacred  eloquence."  For 
personal  piety  he  was  pre-eminent.  Praise  was  an 
employment  in  which  he  greatly  delighted.  Unfeigned 
humility  was  the  habit  of  his  soul.  In  prayer  he  was 
subdued  yet  fervent,  and,  while  not  a  finished  scholar 
like  Ewing,  he  was  a  master  in  theology.  The  vital 
themes  of  the  gospel  were  those  upon  which,  in  his 
public  discourses,  he  loved  to  dwell. 

To  the  yellow  fever  of  1793  he  fell  a  victim, — follow- 
ing first  one  member  after  another  of  his  own  family  to 
the  grave.  The  pathos  of  his  last  letter  to  his  son  is 
deeply  affecting.     But  when  the  pestilence  had  passed 

26* 


306  HISTORY    OF    PRESBYTERIANISM. 

by,  none  left  a  vacant  place  more  fit  to  challenge  tear- 
ful memories  than  the  pastor  of  the  Second  Church. 

The  pastor  of  the  Third  Church  was  Dr.  George 
Dumeld,  a  man  who  seemed  formed  expressly  for  the 
times  and  lot  in  which  his  life  was  cast.  Irish,  English, 
and  Huguenot  blood  was  commingled  in  his  veins,  and 
the  history  of  the  family  was  embalmed  in  the  memo- 
ries of  persecutions  through  which  it  had  been  called 
to  pass.  At  the  age  of  twenty-two  he  was  graduated 
at  Nassau  Hall,  and,  after  studying  theology  and  serving 
as  tutor  at  the  college,  he  was  ordained  in  1761  pastor 
of  the  united  churches  of  Carlisle,  Big  Spring,  and 
Monaghan. 

His  place  of  settlement  was  on  the  frontiers  of  civil- 
ization, and,  except  at  Carlisle,  his  preaching-stations 
were  exposed  to  the  inroads  of  the  Indians.  Often  did 
these  make  hostile  demonstrations  which  required  the 
male  members  of  his  church  to  arm  in  self-defence.  In 
all  these  dangers  he  cheerfully  shared,  nor  was  his 
courage  shaken  by  the  dangers  of  the  camp.  The 
church  at  Monaghan  was  protected  by  fortifications 
thrown  up  around  it,  and  behind  these — while  senti- 
nels were  stationed  to  keep  guard — the  congregation 
listened  to  the  expositions  and  appeals  of  one  who 
scorned  the  aid  of  desk  or  manuscript.  The  exposure 
of  the  sinner  was  illustrated  by  the  dangers  outside 
the  fort,  and  the  refuge  offered  in  the  gospel  found  its 
emblem  in  the  defence  which  this  afforded.  Through 
the  whole  region  he  was  deservedly  popular,  and  his 
fame  secured  him  repeated  calls  to  more  inviting  fields. 

"With  all  the  ardor  of  his  nature  he  threw  himself 
into  the  cause  of  his  country  in  her  struggle  for  free- 
dom. He  was  the  earnest,  fearless,  and  powerful  advo- 
cate of  civil  and  religions  liberty.  During  the  sessions 
of  the  colonial  Congress,  after  his  removal  to  Philadel- 
phia (1772),  John  Adams  was  one  of  his  hearers  and 


NEW   JERSEY   AND   PENNSYLVANIA,    1789-1S00.        307 

admirers,  and  a  communicant  of  his  church.  On  one 
occasion  preceding  the  war,  his  Large  church,  on  the 
corner  of  Fourth  and  Pine  Streets, — which  the  First 
Church  claimed  to  control,  in  spite  of  an  appointment 
which  had  been  made  for  him  to  preach, — was  barred 
against  his  entrance.  It  was  opened  by  the  officers  of 
the  Third  Church  to  admit  the  throng  assembled  to 
hear  him,  and  his  own  entrance  wras  effected  through  a 
window.  Complaint  was  made  to  the  magistrate,  and 
the  king's  officer  was  called  upon  to  quell  what  was 
termed  a  riot.  Shortly  after  the  exercises  commenced, 
the  magistrate  passed  through  the  aisle,  and,  taking 
his  stand  before  the  pulpit,  read  the  riot  act,  and  called 
upon  the  people  to  disperse.  He  was  ordered  to  desist 
by  an  officer  of  the  congregation,  but  he  continued  the 
reading.  After  a  second  demand  and  a  second  refusal, 
the  officer  seized  the  magistrate,  who  was  a  small  man, 
and,  bearing  him  through  the  crowd  to  the  door  of  the 
church,  ordered  him  to  begone  and  no  more  disturb 
the  worship  of  God.  The  exercises  were  then  con- 
tinued without  further  interruption ;  but  the  next  day 
Mr.  Duffield  was  arrested  and  brought  before  the 
Mayor's  Court,  charged  writh  aiding  and  abetting  a  riot, 
and  required  to  give  bail.  This  he  promptly  refused. 
He  felt  assured  that  he  had  merely  discharged  his  duty. 
In  vain  did  the  friendly  magistrate  offer  to  make  the 
terms  easy.  In  vain  did  the  mayor  himself  offer  to 
become  his  security.  He  would  not  accept  it.  He 
thanked  the  mayor  for  his  kindness,  but  was  resolved 
to  assert  the  liberty  and  rights  of  a  minister  of  Christ. 
He  was  told  that  lie  must  then, if  now  released, appear 
again  in  court.  But  the  report  of  his  arrest  and 
threatened  imprisonment  excited  a  popular  ferment. 
The  "Paxton  Boys."  by  whom  he  was  greatly  esteemed 
and  beloved,  assembled,  and  resolved  to  march  in  a 
body  one  hundred  miles  to  Philadelphia  to  effect  his 


808  HISTORY    OF    TRESBYTERIANISM. 

release  if  he  was  imprisoned.  But  he  was  not  again 
molested. 

The  religious  views  and  sympathies  of  Dr.  Duffield 
ranged  him  upon  the  side  of  the  "  New  Lights."  The 
church  of  which  Dr.  Ewing  was  pastor  was  in  connec- 
tion with  the  Old  side.  Hence  the  attempt  to  exclude 
him  from  the  edifice  over  which  the  First  Church 
claimed  control.  But  Dr.  Duffield  was  not  a  man  to 
be  overawed.  He  fearlessly  maintained  his  ground, 
and  he  carried  with  him  to  the  day  of  his  death  the 
sympathies  of  his  Whig  and  "  New  Light"  congrega- 
tion. His  death  occurred  within  a  few  months  of  the 
convening  of  the  first  General  Assembly  (Feb.  1790), 
by  which  he  was  appointed  stated  clerk.  In  the  meri- 
dian of  his  strength  and  usefulness,  at  the  compara- 
tively early  age  of  fifty-seven,  he  fell  at  his  post. 
Whatever  may  have  been  his  lack  of  cold,  calculating 
prudence,  he  was  "  an  eminently  devoted  Christian 
and  an  eminently  faithful  minister." 

His  successor  was  John  Blair  Smith,  President  of 
Hampden-Sidney  College,  and,  subsequent  to  his  pas- 
torate in  Philadelphia,  of  Union  College.  He  was  the 
son  of  Eobert  Smith,  of  Pequa,  and  brother  of  Samuel 
Stanhope  Smith,  President  of  Nassau  Hall,  of  which  he 
was  a  graduate  in  1773.  No  other  clergyman  within  the 
bounds  of  Virginia  Synod  was  pronounced  as  a  preacher 
more  worthy  to  wear  the  mantle  of  President  Davies. 
Though  president  of  the  college  from  the  year  1780, 
it  was  not  till  six  or  seven  years  later  that  his  soul 
seemed  fully  roused  to  the  duty  and  solemnity  of  the 
preacher's  work.  From  this  time  his  labors  were 
abundant,  and  were  extended  far  and  near.  The 
powerful  revival  which  ensued,  extending  through  the 
college  and  over  the  surrounding  region,  was  largely 
due  to  his  instrumentality. 

In  1791,  he  was  appointed  a  commissioner  to  attend 


NEW  JERSEY    AM)    PENNSYLVANIA,    17*9-1800.         309 

the  General  Assembly.  During  its  sessions  be  occu- 
pied the  vacant  pulpit  of  the  Third  Church.  Such  was 
the  impression  made  thai  he  was  unanimously  called 
as  the  successor  of  the  lamented  Dumeld.  Accepting 
the  call,- he  removed  to  Philadelphia,  where  be  remained 
for  five  years,  when  he  was  invited  to  the  presidency 
of  Union  College.  This  post  he  accepted,  and  occupied 
for  three  years,  when  he  was  reinstated  over  the  people 
of  his  former  charge.  He  had  hardly  resumed  his 
Labors,  however,  before  the  city  was  again  visited  by 
the  yellow  lever,  and  he  was  one  of  the  first  victims  of 
the  terrible  pestilence. 

In  man}'  respects  he  was  a  model  preacher.  His 
heart  was  in  his  work,  and  his  whole  soul  glowed  with 
evangelical  fervor  and  the  love  of  souls.  His  preach- 
ing was  clear,  distinct,  pungent,  and  yet  tender,  sub- 
duing opposition  or  melting  it  by  the  pathos  of  earnest 
appeal.  Immense  congregations  would  hang  upon  his 
lips  in  breathless  silence,  or  a  silence  interrupted  only 
by  the  deep-drawn  sigh.  All  tendencies  to  noisy  de- 
monstration were  studiously  suppressed.  His  slender 
frame  and  feeble  constitution  seemed  overtasked  by  his 
arduous  and  exhausting  efforts;  but  his  buoyant  spirit 
and  all-absorbing  devotion  to  his  work  lent  to  his  flag- 
ging energies  a  recuperative  power,  and  repeatedly 
was  he  restored  to  vigor  after  anxious  friends  had 
abandoned  hope  of  his  recovery  and  given  him  over  as  a 
victim  of  consumption.  Few  men  within  the  bounds  of 
the  Church  have  labored  more  zealously  or  successfully 
than  John  Blair  Smith,  who  tell  at  the  earl}'  age  of  forty- 
three,  and  who  long  deserves  to  be  remembered  as  one 
of  the  most  gifted  and  eloquent  preachers  of  his  age. 

Another  member  of  the  Presbytery,  worthy  of  spe- 
cial mention,  was  \)\\  William  M.  Tennenl .  Bel  I  led  since 
17S1  as  the  pa8tor  of  the  three  congregations  of  Alding- 
ton, Norristown,  and  Providence,      lie  was  a  grandson 


310  HISTORY    OF    PRESBYTERIANI8M. 

of  William  Tennent,  of  Neshaminy,  and  bad  been 
settled  for  nine  years  at  Greenfield,  Conn.  In  1785  he 
was  elected  a  trustee  of  Nassau  Hall,  and  for  more 
than  twenty  years  discharged  the  duties  of  the  office. 
He  was  known  among  his  brethren  not  only  as  a  man 
of  devoted  piety,  but  as  "  a  man  of  great  sweetness  of 
temper  and  politeness  of  manner,"  and  as  "  given  to 
hospitality."  In  1797  he  was  moderator  of  the  General 
Assembly. 

At  Deep  Run  was  settled  James  Grier,  brother  of 
Nathan  Grier,  of  Delaware.  A  native  of  the  town,  it 
was  here,  with  the  exception  of  the  period  of  his  pre- 
paratory studies,  that  he  spent  his  days  and  closed  his 
life.  From  1776  he  had  discharged  the  duties  of  pastor ; 
but  at  the  early  age  of  forty-three,  by  the  rupture  of  a 
blood-vessel,  his  death  was  hastened.  Tinicum,  which 
was  vacant  in  1790,  had  for  some  years  been  supplied  by 
him,  in  connection  with  his  charge  at  Deep  Run.  One 
of  his  congregation,  who  lived  to  a  great  age,  said  of 
him  that  "  it  wTas  impossible  to  hear  him  preach  and 
refrain  from  tears/'  In  person  he  was  of  medium 
height,  exceedingly  thin,  erect,  and  graceful  in  his 
movements.  His  voice  wTas  deep  and  sonorous,  and  in 
his  later  years  peculiarly  solemn  in  tone.  He  used 
little  gesture,  but  was  always  earnest,  and  sometimes 
deeply  impassioned.  On  a  certain  communion  Sabbath 
he  followed  up  the  sacramental  service  by  a  sermon 
from  the  text,  "  The  door  was  shut."  After  reading  it, 
he  closed  the  Bible  with  an  action  somewhat  energetic, 
and,  lifting  up  his  hands  apparently  in  deepest  agony, 
exclaimed,  "My  God!  and  is  the  door  shut?"  The 
impression  upon  the  whole  congregation  was  perfectly 
overwhelming,  and  it  is  said  to  have  been  signally 
blessed  in  the  awakening  of  the  careless.  His  suc- 
cessor in  1798  was  Uriah  Dubois,  who  subsequently 
(1804)  gathered  the  congregation  of  Doylestown,  to 


NEW  JERSEY    AND    PENNSYLVANIA,    1789-1800.         311 

which,  in  connection  with  Deep  Run,  ho  continued  to 
minister  till  the  close  of  his  life,  in  1821. 

The  other  pastors  of  the  Presbytery  were  John  Sy- 
monton,1  at  Great  Valley,  Francis  Peppard,  at  Allen- 
town,  James  Boyd,  at  Newton  and  Bensalem,  James 
Watt,  at  Cape  May,  George  Faitoute,  at  Greenwich, 
Andrew  Hunter,  at  Woodbury,  and  Nathaniel  Irwin, 
at  Neshaminy.  The  churches  of  Fairfield,  Deerfield, 
rittsgrove,  Penn's  Neck,  Timber  Creek,  and  Tinicum 
were  vacant.  Previous  to  1800,  however,  John  Daven- 
port was  settled  at  Deerfield,  Ethan  Osborn  at  J- air- 
field, Nathaniel  Harris  at  Penn's  Neck  and  Alloways 
Creek,  Thomas  Picton  at  Timber  Creek  and  Wood- 
bury, at  the  last  of  which  he  had  succeeded  Andrew 
Hunter,  and  Buckley  Carll  at  Pittsgrove.  Cape  May 
and  the  Third  and  Fourth  (recently-formed)  Churches 
of  Philadelphia  wTere  vacant,  William  Clarkson  had 
succeeded  Faitoute  at  Greenwich,  and  had  charge  also 
of  Bridgeton  ;  Robert  Russell  had  commenced  his  labors 
at  Allentown;  William  Latta  had  been  settled  in  place 
of  Symonton  at  Great  Valley,  with  the  charge  of 
Charlestown;  while  John  B.  Linn  had  commenced  his 
brief  pastorate  of  the  First  Church,  and  Jacob  J.  Jane- 
way  his  more  extended  co-pastorate  of  the  Second 
Church,  of  Philadelphia. 

The  patriarch  of  the  Presbytery  of  Carlisle  (1789), 
with  its  twenty-six  ministers  and  fifty-five  churches, 
was  John  Elder,  of  Paxton  and  Derry.  Here  he  had 
resided  in  the  discharge  of  pastoral  duty  for  more  than 
half  a  century.  Born  in  Ireland  and  educated  at 
Edinburgh,  he  came  to  this  country  in  1736,  and  the 
next  year  commenced  his  labors  as  pastor.  At  this 
time  the  region  was  but  sparsely  settled.  In  1720, 
John   Harris,  from  Yorkshire,  located   himself  on  the 

i  He  died  Oct.  21,  1701. 


312  HISTORY    OF    PRESBYTERIANISM. 

Susquehanna,  in  the  vicinity  of  Harrisburg.  to  which 
he  bequeathed  his  name.  Two  miles  east  of  the  city, 
which  at  that  time  was  scarcely  a  settlement,  the  little 
church  of  Paxton  was  soon  built,  and  in  its  beautiful 
graveyard,  "  the  Westminster  Abbey  of  the  capital/' 
"  the  rude  forefathers  of  the  hamlet  sleep."  The  place 
which  they  selected  for  their  residence  was  one  of  the 
most  beautiful  on  the  continent.1  About  seven  miles 
distant — a  sheltering  wall  from  the  northern  blasts — 
lies  the  mountain-range,  with  its  blue  summits,  which 
bound  the  view  in  that  direction.  The  valley  itself, 
underlaid  with  blue  limestone,  and  covered  originally 
with  the  richest  and  noblest  forest  growth,  includes 
within  it  the  garden  of  all  the  Atlantic  slope,  extending 
from  Easton  on  the  Delaware,  by  Beading,  Lebanon, 
and  Lancaster,  b}^  Harrisburg,  York,  and  Carlisle,  by 
Chambersburg,  Hagerstown,  and  Winchester,  until  it 
loses  itself  in  the  North  Carolina  hills.  The  gem  of  the 
whole  valley,  the  point  of  greatest  beauty,  is  where  it 
is  cleft  by  the  Susquehanna. 

Nine  miles  below  the  present  site  of  Harrisburg 
was  the  church  of  Deny,  a  memorial  to  the  early 
settlers  of  its  Irish  namesake,  endeared  to  every  Pro- 
testant heart.  The  pastor  of  the  two  churches  was 
John  Elder.  The  early  years  of  his  ministry  were 
years  of  constant  exposure  to  Indian  invasion.  The 
members  of  his  congregation  generally  were  trained  as 
"rangers,"  and  he  shared  with  them  the  hardships  and 
hazards  of  a  frontier  life.  Many  a  family  in  the  course 
of  years  mourned  for  its  head,  shot  down  by  a  hidden 
foe  or  carried  off  to  a  hopeless  captivity.  Whether  at 
work  in  the  field,  or  worshipping  God  in  the  sanctuary, 
the  men  carried  their  arms  with  them;  and  their  pastor 
himself  set  them  an  example.     His  gun  stood  by  his 

*  Presb.  Quar.Rev.,  April,  18G0. 


NEW  JERSEY    AND    PENNSYLVANIA,    1789-1800.         813 

side  in  the  pulpit.  The  congregation  was  repeatedly 
threatened  with  hostile  attack,  and  sometimes  the 
threat  was  fulfilled.  On  one  occasion  two  or  three 
were  killed.  Mr.  Elder  himself  superintended  the  mili- 
tary discipline  of  his  people,  and  was  known  as  the 
captain  of  the  mounted  ;i  Paxtony  Boys."  He  subse- 
quently held  a  colonel's  commission  in  the  colonial  ser- 
vice, and  had  the  command  of  the  block-houses  and 
stockades  from  the  Susquehanna  to  East  on. 

He  was  indeed  a  man  for  the  times.  With  a  robust 
constitution,  large  stature  (he  was  six  feet  high),  com- 
manding presence,  great  courage,  and  indomitable 
energy  of  purpose,  "  he  was  one  of  the  true-blue  Cove- 
nanter sort,  like  his  fellow  Scotch-Irishman,  General 
Jackson,  always  willing  to  take  the  responsibility." 
His  people,  mostly  his  fellow-countrymen,  could  appre- 
ciate his  qualities ;  and  his  influence  over  them  was 
almost  unbounded.  It  did  not  detract  from  this,  that  lie 
was  equally  at  home  with  spiritual  and  temporal  wea- 
pons, and  that  traditional  sympathies  commended  to 
him  the  Covenanter  war-cry  of "  The  sword  of  the  Lord 
and  of  Gideon  !"  -In  the  division  he  sided  with  the 
"  Old  Lights,"  and  extended  little  indulgence  toward 
the  other  party.  Jealous  of  his  own  rights  over  his 
extended  parish,  he  allowed  no  one,  and  especially  no 
"New  side"  preacher,  to  interfere  with  him.  At  a 
meeting  of  Presbytery  he  complained  of  a  Mr.  Hogg 
(Hoge),  a  "New-Light"  minister  who  had  preached  on 
the  outskirts  of  his  parish.  The  complaint  was  couched 
in  peculiar  phraseology:  "  a  hog"  he  said, '-had  been 
rooting  in  his  fields."  It  was  some  time  after  Harris- 
burg  was  incorporated,  before  he  would  allow  any 
preaching  there. 

The  death  of  Mr.  Elder  occurred  in  1792,  when  ho 
had  reached  the   age  of  eighty-six,  and   after   having 
been   a  minister  for  sixty  years.     His  successor,  Dr. 
Vol.  I.— 27 


311  HISTORY    OF    PRESBYTERIANISM. 

Joshua  Williams,  a  graduate  of  Dickinson  College,  and 
a  licentiate  of  Carlisle  Presbytery,  was  ordained  and 
installed  October  2,  1799.  • 

Two  of  the  most  memorable  members  of  the  Pres- 
bytery were  located  at  Carlisle, — one,  Dr.  Charles  Nis- 
bet,  President  of  Dickinson  College,  and  the  other,  Dr. 
Robert  Davidson,  a  professor  in  the  institution  and  the 
pastor  of  the  church.  The  project  of  a  collegiate  insti- 
tution in  this  region  had  been  cherished  long  previous 
to  the  close  of  the  Revolutionary  War.  Carlisle  had 
even  been  designated  as  the  fittest  location.  It  was 
situated  on  the  great  western  route  from  Philadelphia 
to  Pittsburg,  one  hundred  and  twenty  miles  west  of  the 
former,  and  only  eighteen  from  Harrisburg.  It  was 
embosomed  in  a  valley  distinguished  through  its  whole 
extent  for  healthfulness,  fertility,  and  the  picturesque 
beauty  of  the  mountain-scenery  which  formed  the 
frame  of  this  almost  Eden-picture. 

The  first  meeting  of  the  trustees  of  the  proposed 
institution — among  them  his  excellency  John  Dickin- 
son, James  Ewing,  Dr.  Rush,  Robert  Duncan,  Stephen 
McPherson,  and  others — was  held  September  15,  1783. 
Measures  were  taken  to  secure  funds,  both  in  Europe 
and  this  country.  At  the  second  meeting,  April  6, 1784, 
the  sum  of  two  thousand  eight  hundred  and  thirty-nine 
pounds  was  reported  to  have  been  collected.  Resolving 
to  press  with  increased  energy  the  matter  of  subscrip- 
tions, and  apply  to  the  State  for  an  endowment,  the 
trustees  unanimously  elected  Rev.  Charles  Nisbet, 
S.T.D.,  of  Montrose,  Scotland,  principal,  and  Mr.  James 
Ross, — favorably  known  among  classical  scholars  as 
the  author  of  a  valuable  Latin  grammar, — Professor 
of  the  Greek  and  Latin  Languages.  The  grammar- 
school  by  Ross  was  at  once  commenced  in  "the  school- 
house  of  the  borough,"  a  small  two-story  brick  build- 
ing, which  still  occupies  its  place  in  an  alley  a  little* 


NEW    JERSEY    AND    PENNSYLVANIA,  1789-1S00.        315 

southeast  of  what  is  now  (lie  publie  square.1  On  the 
30th  of  September,  the  students  numbered  fifteen,  and 
on  the  15th  of  the  following  June  they  amounted  to 
thirty-five. 

It  was  at  this  time  that  Dr.  Kisbet  arrived  in  this 
country  and  took  the  principal  charge  of  the  infant 
institution.  The  prospect  before  him  was  far  from 
cheering.  There  was  as  yet  no  college  edifice.  There 
were  no  books,  apparatus,  or  adequate  funds.  The 
Legislature  silently  passed  over  the  petition  for  aid,  and 
the  first  task  devolving  upon  the  principal  was  to  collect 
the  means  necessary  to  carry  forward  the  institution. 
After  having  undertaken  it  with  uncertain  success,  his 
health  failed,  and  for  seven  months  he  felt  forced  to 
relinquish  his  connection  with  the  institution.  But 
upon  his  recovery,  a  small  grant  having  been  secured 
from  the  State,  he  resumed  his  post,  and  the  first  class 
of  nine  was  graduated  in  1787.  In  the  following  year 
there  were  eleven  graduates,  and  in  1792  the  number 
reached  thirty-three, — a  higher  number  than  was  again 
attained.  The  trustees,  however,  had  been  unable  to 
secure  a  college  building  previous  to  1802,  and  in  some 
of  the  intervening  years  there  was  no  graduating  class. 

Dr.  Nisbet  might  well  feel  some  disappointment  at 
learning, .upon  his  arrival  in  this  country,  the  real  state 
of  the  institution  over  which  he  was  called  to  preside. 
But,  bating  "no  jot  of  heart  or  hope,"  he  gave  himself 
up  without  reserve  to  the  duties  of  his  station,  and, 
by  a  multiform  activity  and  unwearied  diligence,  en- 
deavored to  supply,  as  far  as  possible,  every  other 
defect. 

If  any  man  could  be  pronounced  capable  of  doing 
this.  Dr.  Nisbet  might  well  be.  He  wras  in  the  full  and 
matured  vigor  of  his  years,  and,  having  been  born  in 

1  American  Quarterly  Register,  November,  1836,  p.  119. 


316  HISTORY    OF   PRESBTTERIANISM. 

1736,  was,  consequently,  upon  Lis  arrival  in  this  country, 
little  short  of  fifty  years  of  age.  The  six  years  that 
followed  his  graduation  at  the  University  of  Edin- 
burgh had  been  spent  in  close  study  at  the  Divinity 
Hall,  where  he  supported  himself  by  his  contributions 
to  one  of  the  popular  periodicals  of  the  day.  After 
serving  as  stated  supply  with  the  church  in  the  Gor- 
bals  of  Glasgow,  he  was  settled  at  Montrose;  and  it 
was  here  that  he  was  laboring  at  the  time  that  he  was 
invited  to  Carlisle.  Such  was  his  reputation  some 
years  previous,  that  Dr.  "YVitherspoon,  who  at  first 
declined  the  call  to  Nassau  Hall,  suggested  him  for 
the  vacant  post. 

There  were  many  things  which  seemed  to  justify  the 
selection  of  Dr.  Nisbet  for  the  office  to  which  he  was 
called.  He  belonged  to  the  Orthodox  wing  of  the 
Scotch  Church,  and  combined  evaugelical  zeal  with 
soundness  in  doctrine.  His  sympathies  all  through 
the  Eevolutionary  struggle  were  on  the  side  of  the 
Americans.  Of  the  cause  of  civil  and  religious  liberty 
he  was  a  fearless  and  zealous  advocate.  His  intellec- 
tual endowments  were  of  a  rare  order.  His  mind  was 
remarkably  sprightly,  and  at  once  comprehensive  and 
discriminating.  Whatever  his  position,  he  was  sure  to 
exercise,  even  in  a  minority,  a  commanding  influ- 
ence. His  varied  talents  and  acquirements  were  com- 
bined with  sterling  integrity  and  worth.  In  the  dis- 
charge of  his  duties  he  feared  not  the  face  of  man.  On 
one  occasion  during  our  Eevolutionary  struggle,  he 
preached  on  a  public  fast-day  a  discourse  which  was 
quite  unacceptable  to  the  members  of  the  Town  Council 
of  Montrose,  and  soon  after  its  commencement,  when 
they  had  satisfied  themselves  as  to  the  character  of 
what  was  probably  soon  to  come,  they  rose  in  a  body 
and  left  the  church.  Stretching  forth  his  hand  to  the 
seat  which  they  had  just  vacated,  he  said,  with   em- 


17 

phas's,  as  they  withdrew,  "  The  wicked  flee  when  no 
man  jHirsueth." 

In  the  General  Assembly  of  the  Scotch  Church,  Dr. 
Nisbel  was  a  powerful  debater.  His  speeches  in  this 
body  must  have  told  with  powerful  effect.  The  very 
grounds  on  which  they  are  exposed  to  criticism — an 
excess  perhaps  of  wit.  <>r  withering  and  crushing  sar- 
casm— must  have  inspired  a  healthful  respect  for  his 
opposition  to  the  laxness  and  latitudinarianism  of  mode- 
rate rule.  In  social  life,  his  conversational  gifts  shone 
with  peculiar  brilliancy.  His  wit  and  humor  are  said 
to  have  been  unrivalled.  "  His  memory  was  not  only 
excellent,  but  bordered  on  the  prodigious."1  The  libra- 
ries to  which  he  had  been  privileged  to  have  access 
were  large  and  rich;  but  he  himself  was  proverbially 
called  "  the  walking  library."  At  one  time  he  was  able 
to  repeat  the  whole  JEneid  and  Young's  Night  Thoughts. 
But,  wTith  all  his  attainments  and  his  exuberance  of 
wit,  he  was  none  the  less  a  sincere  Christian,  a  true 
patriot,  and  a  warm  friend  to  the  interests  of  religion 
and  mankind.  Such  was  the  man  who  for  nearly 
twenty  years  devoted  his  energies  to  the  establishment 
and  direction  of  Dickinson  College.  "With  all  the  diffi- 
culties which  it  had  to  encounter,  and  with  such  rival 
institutions  as  the  University  of  Pennsylvania  and 
Nassau  Hall  College,  located  respectively  at  Philadel- 
phia and  Princeton,  it  is  scarcely  surprising  that  no 
more  was  effected.  The  comparative  failure,  however, 
was  due,  not  to  the  principal,  but  to  circumstances 
which  all  his  tact,  energy,  learning,  and  application 
could  not  control. 

Associated  with  Dr.  Nisbet  as  a  professor  in  the  col- 
lege, and  at  the  same  time  settled  over  the  church  in 
Carlisle,  was  a  man  who,  in  the  cause  of  sacred  and 


1  Life  of  Nisbet,  p.  28. 
27* 


818  HISTORY    OF    PRESBYTERIA^s'ISM. 

classical  learning  and  of  civil  and  religious  freedom, 
was  in  full  sympathy  with  him.  Robert  Davidson 
was  a  native  of  Maryland,  and  a  graduate  of  the 
University  of  Pennsylvania  under  Dr.  Ewing  in  1771. 
Two  years  later,  such  was  his  reputation  for  learning 
that  he  was  appointed  an  instructor  in  the  university, 
and  chosen  as  an  assistant  of  Dr.  Ewing  in  the  First 
Church.  During  the  war,  his  political  sympathies  and 
his  outspoken  zeal  for  his  country  rendered  his  residence 
in  Philadelphia  unsafe,  and  he  was  forced  to  remove. 
When  Dickinson  College  was  founded,  he  was  invited, 
through  the  influence  of  Dr.  Eush,  to  become  one  of 
its  officers.  "His  name,"  said  Dr.  Eush,  who  knew 
him  well, ';  will  be  of  use  to  us;  for  he  is  a  man  of  learn- 
ing and  of  an  excellent  private  character."  His  sphere 
in  the  institution  was  the  Professorship  of  History  and 
Belles-Lettres.  In  discharging  his  duties,  collegiate 
and  pastoral,  he  was  indefatigable.  By  systematic 
efforts,  he  steadily  enlarged  his  acquisitions.  He  made 
himself  master  of  eight  languages,  was  well  versed  in 
theology,  and  "  familiar  with  the  whole  circle  of  science." 
Astronomy  was  his  favorite  pursuit,  and  he  was  an 
amateur  and  composer  of  sacred  music;  but  he  had  self- 
denial  enough  to  sacrifice  his  elegant  tastes  at  the 
shrine  of  the  sterner  duties  which  absorbed  his  time 
and  energy. 

During  the  Whiskey  Insurrection,  he  was  called  to 
preach  to  the  troops  on  their  march  to  suppress  it.  He 
discharged  his  duties  in  a  fearless  yet  prudent  manner, 
avoiding  the  odium  which  Dr.  Nisbet  incurred  by  his 
more  caustic  rebukes.  Upon  the  death  of  the  latter, 
the  charge  of  the  institution  devolved  upon  Dr.  David- 
son; but  in  1809  he  resigned  his  post  in  the  college  to 
devote  himself  more  exclusively  to  his  pastoral  duties. 
His  death  occurred  in  December,  1812,  in  the  sixty- 
second  year  of  his  age. 


NEW   JERSEY   AND   PENNSYLVANIA,   1789-1800.       319 

Robert  Cooper,  of  Middle  Spring,  was  one  of  tho 
leading  men  <>t'  the  Presbytery  by  which  ho  hud  been 
licensed,  and  of  which  he  had  been  a  member  for 
twenty -four  years,  still  retaining  his  first  charge.  He 
was  a  native  of  Ireland,  and  was  horn  in  1732.  His 
father's  family  were  in  humble  circumstances,  and  he 
was  forced  largely  to  depend  upon  his  own  exertions 
for  the  means  of  completing  his  education.  In  1763,  he 
was  graduated  at  Nassau  Hall,  then  under  the  presi- 
dency  of  Dr.  Finley,  and  his  theological  studies  Mere 
conducted  in  part  under  the  care  of  Dr.  Duffield,  at 
Carlisle.  In  17G5,  he  was  called  to  Middle  Spring  (Ship- 
pensburg) ;  and  here  he  remained  till  disease  forced  him 
to  seek  a  dismission,  reluctantly  granted,  in  1797.  Low 
in  stature,  of  a  thin,  spare  habit,  with  a  countenance 
more  indicative  of  melancholy  than  mirth,  with  a 
delivery  that  would  by  no  means  be  considered  attract- 
ive, and  with  a  diction  rather  solid  than  elegant,  the 
real  worth  of  the  man  was  recognized  beneath  its  dis- 
guise, while  the  integrity  of  his  character  commanded 
respect  for  his  AVhig  principles  and  his  stern  doctrinal 
views.  As  a  theologian  he  was  somewhat  eminent;  and 
numbered  among  his  pupils  were  Drs.  J.  McKnight, 
Joshua  Williams,  and  F.  Herron.  For  several  years 
after  his  dismission,  and  even  to  the  close  of  his  life,  he 
engaged  in  missionary  labor,  supplying  vacant  pulpits 
or  assisting  his  brethren  of  the  Presbytery.  It  was 
several  years  after  his  resignation  before  the  church 
found  a  successor  to  him  in  Dr.  John  Moody. 

At  Lower  Marsh  Creek  and  Tom's  Creek  was  John 
McKnight,  a  theological  pupil  of  Eobert  Cooper.  His 
collegiate  course  was  completed  at  Princeton  in  177.5; 
in  1776  he  was  ordained,  and  until  the  close  of  the  war 
he  labored  with  a  new  congregation  gathered  by  his 
instrumentality.  In  1773  he  accepted  the  call  to  Lower 
Marsh  Creek,  and  here,  with  a  farm  of  one  hundred  and 


320  HISTORY    OF    PRESBYTERIANISM. 

fifty  acres,  and  amid  a  large  and  devoted  congregation, 
who  strove  to  anticipate  his  wants,  he  spent  what  ho 
ever  regarded  as  the  happiest  years  of  his  life. 

Only  a  few  months  elapsed  after  the  meeting  of  the 
Assembly,  when  Dr.  McKnight  was  called  to  the  city 
of  New  York  as  colleague  with  Dr.  Rodgers.  For 
twenty  years  he  was  removed  from  the  scenes  of  his 
early  days,  but  in  his  old  age  returned  again  to  active 
labor  in  his  native  State.  His  successor  at  Lower  Marsh 
Creek  was  William  Paxton,  whose  protracted  ministry 
extended  from  1792  to  1841,  a  period  of  almost  half  a 
century. 

At  Lower  Marsh  Creek  was  John  Black,  a  native  of 
South  Carolina,  but  a  graduate  of  Nassau  Hall  in  1771. 
In  1775,  he  was  installed  pastor  of  this  church,  but  in 
1794,  after  a  pastorate  of  nearly  twenty  years,  was 
released  from  his  charge,  at  his  repeated  and  urgent 
request.  His  last  days  were  spent  in  the  bounds  of 
Bedstone  Presbytery.  He  was  possessed  of  a  high 
order  of  talent,  and  was  especially  fond  of  philosophical 
disquisitions.  An  essay  on  Psalmody,  in  reply  to  Dr. 
John  Anderson  of  the  Associate  Church,  was  from  his 
pen.1 

At  Upper  "West  Conococheague  (Mercersburg),  John 
King  had  been  settled  for  twenty  years.  A  strict  Cal- 
vinist,  an  elaborate  but  not  brilliant  thinker,  with  a 
voice  too  weak  and  hoarse  for  oratorical  effect,  he  never 
enjoyed  an  extended  popularity  j  but  in  close  and  logical 
processes  of  thought,  in  patience  of  investigation,  and 
in  solid  attainments,  both  in  science  and  theology,  he 
had  few  superiors.  His  pastorate  closed  with  his  life 
in  1811. 

At  East  Pennsborough  and  Monaghan,  Samuel  Waugh, 
a  graduate  of  Nassau  Hall  in  1773,  commenced  his  pas- 

1  Sprague's  Annals,  iii.  556. 


NEW    JERSEY    AND    PENNSYLVANIA,    17S9-1S00.       321 

torate  in  1782.  A  sound  divine.  :t  very  acceptable 
preacher,  and  highly  esteemed  by  his  people,  his  labors 
in  i  his  position  ended  only  with  Ids  life,  in  1807.  The- 
church  of  West  Hanover  from  L788  to  1845  was  under 
the  care  of  .lames  Snodgrass,1  a  man  whose  modesty 
did  not  conceal  his  sound  judgment  and  eminent  de- 
votedness  to  his  work. 

In  1793,  the  muted  churches  of  York  and  Hopewell 
called  as  their  pastor  a  young  man  who  had  but  a  few 
years  previous  emigrated  from  Ireland.  This  was 
Robert  Cathcart.  The  friend  of  every  good  cause,  dili- 
gent and  scrupulously  conscientious  in  the  discharge 
of  his y duties,  with  an  insatiable  thirst  for  knowledge, 
and  a  singularly  retentive  memory,  sternly  faithful  in 
the  utterance  of  his  convictions,  and  as  immovable  in 
his  steadfast  devotion  to  truth  as  the  limestone  rocks 
of  York  Valley,  which  he  trod  for  nearly  half  a  cen- 
tury almost  as  his  "  native  heath,"  he  was  spared  to 
complete  an  active  ministry  of  forty-six  years  in  connection 
with  the  church  at  York,  nor  did  he  cease  his  labors  at 
Hopewell  till  two  or  three  years  before  his  death,  in  1849. 

Besides  these  men,  the  members  of  Carlisle  Presby- 
tery in  1789  were  Hugh  McGill,  at  Tuscarora  and 
Cedar  Spring.  James  Martin,  at  Piney  Creek,  Robert 
McMordie.  without  charge,  James  Lang,  at  Falling 
Spring  and  East  Conococheague,  John  Craighead,  at 
Rocky  Spring,  Hugh  Vance,  at  Tuscarora,  Va.,  and 
Back  Creek,  Thomas  McFarren,  at  Lower.  Bast,  and 
West  Conococheague,  Samuel  Dougall.  at  Path  Valley, 
John  Linn,  at  Sherman's  Valley,  where  he  was  settled 
in  1777,  David  Bard,  at  Bedford,  Joseph  Henderson,  at 
Great  ConewagO,  Matthew  Stephens,  at  Deny  and 
Wayne  on  the  Juniata,  .lames  Johnston,  at  Kishaeo- 
quillas,  John  John  st<  n.at  Bart's  Logand  Shaver's  ( Jreek, 

1  Father  of  Dv.  William  D.  SnodgrasB,  now  of  Goaaen,  N.Y. 


322  HISTORY    OF   PKESBYTBRIANISM. 

Samuel  Wilson,  at  Big  Spring,  and  Hugh  Morrison,  at 
Sunbury.  Northumberland  town,  and  Buffalo  Valley. 

The  vacant  churches  of  the  Presbytery  were  York 
(town),  soon  supplied  by  Dr.  Cathcart.  Hagerstown, 
Shepherdstown,  Charlestown,  Falling  Waters.  Cool 
Spring.  Romney,  Patterson  Creek,  Great  Cove.  Great 
Anghwick,  Standing  Stone.  Frankstown,  Penn's  Valley, 
Chillisquaque,  Warrior's  Pain.  Muncy,  Lycoming,  Ma- 
honing. Fishing  Creek.  Dick's  Gap.  Sherman's  Creek, 
and  Upper  Pax  ton. 

Previous  to  1800,  some  of  these  vacancies  had  been 
supplied.  The  death  of  Dr.  John  Elder  left  Paxton 
and  Derry  vacant,  and  Nathaniel  E.  Snowden,  his  suc- 
cessor in  1793,  became  the  first  pastor  of  the  church  of 
Harrisburg.  which  lay  but  two  miles  from  Paxton,  and 
thus  within  the  bounds  of  his  parish.  To  the  charge  of 
the  old  churches,  Joshua  Williams  had  succeeded.  David 
Denney  was  laboring  at  Path  Valley,  while  Cooper, 
Lang,  King,  Linn,  Waugh.  Snodgrass,  Davidson,  Ste- 
phen, John  Johnston,  and  Morrison  remained  undis- 
turbed in  their  pastorates.  Frankstown  was  supplied 
by  David  Bard,  dismissed  from  Bedford;  but  within  the 
old  bounds  of  the  Presbytery  there  were  between  thirty 
and  forty  churches  still  vacant.  The  ministers  who 
had  been  dismissed  were  Cooper,  McPherrin,  Craig- 
head, Jones,  James  Johnston. Dunham, and  Black.  Hugh 
Vance  died  December  31,  1791,  and  John  Elder,  July, 
1792. 

In  1794,  the  Presbytery  of  Carlisle  was  divided  to 
form  the  new  Presbytery  of  Huntingdon.  Previous  to. 
the  division  it  consisted  of  twenty-five  ministers,  four 
of  whom  were  without  pastoral  charge,  while  there 
were  sixteen  vacancies,  and  in  repeated  instances  two 
or  more  churches  had  but  a  single  pastor.  The  order 
of  the  Assembly  divided  the  two  Presbyteries  ''by  a 
line  along  the  Juniata  River,  from  its  mouth  up  to  the 


NEW    J  HUSKY    AND    PENNSYLVANIA,    1789-1800.        323 

Tuscarora  Mountain,  to  the  head  of  Path  Valley, 
thence  westwardly  to  the  eastern  boundary  of  the 
Presbytery  of  Redstone,  so  as  to  Leave  the  congrega- 
tion of  Bedford  to  the  south.  The  ministers  south  of 
this  line — Snodgrass,  Waugh,  Linn,  Nesbit,  Davidson, 
Wilson,  Cooper,  Craighead,  King,  Lang,  McPherrin, 
Paxton,  Black,  Henderson,  McMordie, and  Jones — were 
to  constitute  the  Presbytery  of  Carlisle;  the  others, — 
Bard,  .John  and  James  Johnston.  Stephens,  McGill,  Mar- 
tin. Bryson,  Morrison,  and  Hoge, — the  Presbytery  of 
Huntingdon.  In  1800,  the  Presbytery  of  Carlisle  had 
eighteen  ministers,  five  without  pastoral  charge,  and 
twelve  vacancies.  The  Presbytery  of  Huntingdon  had 
twelve  ministers,  four  without  pastoral  charge,  and 
more  than  twenty  vacancies. 

The  region  of  Western  Pennsylvania  was  covered  in 
1789  by  the  Redstone  Presbytery,  numbering  at  that 
time  eight  ministers,  and  thirty-one  churches,  seven- 
teen of  which  were  vacant,  and  of  the  fourteen  others 
all  but  two  were  unable  alone  to  sustain  a  pastor. 
James  Finley  was  at  Eehoboth  and  Bound  Hill,  John 
Clark  at  Lebanon  and  Bethel,  Joseph  Smith1  at  Buffalo 
and  Cross  Creek,  John  McMillan  at  Chartiers  and 
Pigeon  Creek,  James  Power  at  Mount  Pleasant  and 
Sewicklev,  James  Dunlap  at  Redstone  and  Dunlap 
Creek,  while  Thaddeus  Dod  was  at  Ten -Mile,  and 
Samuel  Barr  at  Pittsburg. 

The  vacancies  were  Fairfield,  Donegal,  Unity,  Salem, 
Poke  Run^  Long  Run,  Monticr's  Creek,  Glades  of  Sandy 
Creek,  Muddy  Creek'.  Morgan stown,  George's  Creek, 
Pike  Run,  Potato  Garden.  Mill  Creek,  King's  Creek, 
Short  Creek,  and  Three  Ridges. 

In  1792,  the  number  of  ministers  was  twelve,  but  the 
number  of  vacant  churches,  through  the  rapid  increase 

1  Died  April  14,  1792. 


324  HISTORY    OF    PRESBYTERIANISM. 

of  settlements,  amounted  to  twenty-four.  The  new 
members  were  Joseph  Patterson,  James  Hughes,  John 
Brice,  John  McPherrin,  and  Samuel  Porter. 

In  1793,  the  Presbytery  of  Eedstone  dismissed  five 
of  its  members,  in  order  to  constitute  another  Presby- 
tery on  its  western  borders,  at  that  time  extending 
over  the  scattered  settlements  on  the  northwest  of  the 
Ohio  Eiver.  The  new  Presbytery,  though  mainly 
within  the  limits  of  the  State  of  Pennsylvania,  took 
the  name  of  Ohio,  and  the  five  ministers  by  whom  it 
was  constituted  were  John  Clark,  John  McMillan, 
Joseph  Patterson,  James  Hughes,  and  John  Brice. 

Of  the  Presbytery  thus  erected,  the  Monongahela 
Eiver,  in  its  windings  till  it  joins  the  Alleghany  at 
Pittsburg,  formed  the  eastern  and  northern  boundary. 
Thence  the  line  ran  northward  to  Presque  Island,  and 
from  this  in  a  westerly  direction,  including  the  frontier 
settlements  in  Ohio.  The  field  occupied  was  one  into 
which  immigration  was  soon  to  pour  at  flood-tide.  The 
country  was  rapidly  filling  up,  and  the  increase  of  the 
Presbytery  in  the  course  of  a  few  years  was  almost 
unprecedented.  In  1791,  two  more  members  were 
added  to  its  list,  and  in  1800,  seven  years  after  its 
formation,  it  had  nineteen  ministers,  one  only  without 
charge,  while  under  its  care  it  had  five  probationers  for 
the  ministry. 

Of  its  original  members,  some  have  already  been 
mentioned  in  connection  with  Eedstone  Presbytery. 
John  Clark,  since  1781  settled  over  the  Bethel  and 
Lebanon  congregations,  was  far  advanced  in  years  and 
enfeebled  by  age  when  he  became  a  member  of  the 
Ohio  Presbytery,  the  erection  of  which  he  survived 
only  four  years.  Grave,  sedate,  venerable  in  appear- 
ance, he  was  pronounced  a  solemn  and  impressive 
speaker.     His  successor  was  William  Woods. 

Next  on  the  list  stood  the  name  of  John  McMillan, 


NEW    JERSEY    AND    PENNSYLVANIA,    1789-1S00.        325 

and  in  grateful  association  with  it  foll< >wed  the  names 
of  others  who  had  been  his  pupils  hut  were  u<>w  his 
Presbyters  and  coadjutors.  Others  still  were  soon 
to  be  added  to  the  list.  .Most  prominent  among  these 
were  Joseph  Patterson,  Thomas  Marquis,  James  Hughes, 
and  John  Brice. 

Patterson  was  a  native  of  Ireland.1  His  Gather,  when 
a  lad,  was  present  at  the  siege  of  Deny.  The  son 
shared  in  the  scenes  of  our  own  Revolutionary  conflict. 
In  1788,  he  was  licensed  to  preach,  and  in  the  follow- 
ing year  accepted  the  call  of  the  united  churches  of 
Raccoon  and  Montour's  Run,  in  "Washington  county, 
the  former  eighteen  miles  from  Pittsburg.  Like  other 
ministers  of  the  day,  he  made  frequent  missionary 
tours,  and  his  labors  were  most  abundant.  "  His  jour- 
nal is  replete  with  interesting  and  surprising  incidents, 
and  strikingly  illustrates  the  deep  spirituality  and  glow- 
ing zeal  of  the  missionary/' 

Thomas  Marquis  was  another  of  this  noble  band  of 
pioneers  of  which  the  Presbytery  was  constituted.  His 
father's  death  while  he  was  yet  a  child  left  him  desti- 
tute, and  at  twelve  or  thirteen  years  of  age  he  went 
to  learn  the  trade  of  a  weaver.  In  1775,  he  left  his 
home  in  Virginia,  and,  now  at  the  age  of  twenty-twro, 
and  already  married,  took  up  his  residence  in  Washing- 
ton county.  His  cabin  was  erected,  amid  all  the  hazards 
of  frontier  warfare,  in  the  woods  near  the  spot  where 
the  village  of  Cross  Creek  now  stands.  As  dangers 
thickened,  he,  with  others,  took  refuge  in  Vance's  Fort 
There  was  not  a  gospel-minister  within  seventy  miles 
of  the  place,  but  within  the  fort  was  one  pious  man 
This  was  Joseph  Patterson,  whom  we  have  just  men- 
tioned. Although  not  yet  licensed  he  acted  the  part 
of  a  faithful  Christian,  and,  with  a  piety  that  remained 


1  Sprague's  Annals.     Old  Redstone. 
Vol.  I.— 28 


326  HISTORY    OF    PRESBYTERIANISM. 

firm  even  amidst  the  storm  and  terrors  of  war,  endea- 
vored to  act  the  part  of  a  faithful  monitor  to  the  often 
reckless  and  hardened  men  that  had  fled  with  him 
to  the  fort.  A  revival  commenced,  and  Thomas  Mar- 
quis and  his  young  wife  were  numbered  among  its  sub- 
jects. 

For  several  years,  though  often  urged  to  undertake 
the  work  of  the  ministry,  the  timidity  of  Marquis  led 
him  to  refuse  all  solicitations.  At  length  his  duty 
became  so  manifest  that  he  could  no  longer  decline  it. 
He  prosecuted  his  studies,  first  at  Buffalo  with  Dr. 
Joseph  Smith,  and  afterward  at  Canonsburg  with  Dr. 
McMillan.  It  was  a  period  for  his  family,  as  well  as 
himself,  of  great  self-denial.  His  excellent  wife  was 
sometimes  compelled  to  labor  in  the  field  to  keep  the 
children  supplied  with  bread.  But  the  result  was  that 
Marquis  brought  to  his  Master's  work,  at  the  "ripe  age 
of  forty,  such  gifts  of  energy,  humility,  and  perseve- 
rance as  are  rarely  combined.  In  1793,  he  was  licensed 
to  preach  by  the  Presbytery  of  Bedstone,  and  in  the 
following  year  accepted  a  call  from  the  congregations 
of  Black  Lick  and  Cross  Creek.  In  the  first  four  years 
of  his  pastorate,  one  hundred  and  twenty-three  were 
added  to  the  communion  of  the  churches  under  his 
care.  In  1796,  he  was  appointed  a  member  of  the  first 
missionary  board  west  of  the  mountains.  His  mis- 
sionary labors  were  abundant,  and  his  tours  frequent 
and  sometimes  quite  extended.  In  1801,  he  declined  a 
call  from  Chillicothe,  but  soon  after  made  an  extensive 
joun.ey  "  northwest  of  the  Ohio  and  Alleghany  Eivers, 
seeking  the  wandering  sheep,  and  gathering  them  into 
little  companies,  for  mutual  encouragement  and  as 
nuclei  ?f  other  churches."  Kind,  courteous,  frank,  but 
gifted  *  ith  quick  intellect  and  strong  emotion,  he  was 
genial  in  social  life,  and  almost  "  irresistible  in  the 
pulpit."     Almost  to  the  last,  even  when  bowed  under 


NEW   JERSEY   AND    PENNSYLVANIA,    17S9-1800.       327 

(she  weight  of  more  than  threescore  and  ten  years,  he 
continued  his  labors  and  gave  full  proof  of  his  ministry. 

Another  honored  member  of  this  Presbytery  was 
Rev.  (afterward  Dr.)  Samuel  Ralston.  He  was  a  native 
of  Ireland,  and  his  early  home  was  "  a  nursery  of  gos- 
pel truth,  where  religion  with  its  Bible  and  catechisms, 
instead  of  polities  with  its  newspapers,  early  imbued 
his  vigorous  mind/'  He  was  born  in  1756,  and  migrated 
to  this  country,  after  completing  his  studies  at  the 
University  of  Glasgow,  in  the  spring  of  1794.  In  1796, 
he  accepted  the  call  of  the  united  congregations  of 
Mingo  Creek  and  Williamsport  (now  Monongahela 
City),  where  for  thirty-five  years  he  continued  to  labor. 
J  Remarkable  for  mental  energy,  erudition,  and  a  piety 
that  never  wearied  in  its  work,  he  was  gifted  with 
some  of  the  lighter  graces  of  urbanity  and  wit,  and 
for  keenness  of  satire  his  "  curry-comb"  might  "  well 
rank  with  the  i  characteristics'  of  Witherspoon."  It 
defended  the  revivals  of  the  period — 1800-1805 — from 
the  charges  brought  against  them  on  account  of  the 
extravagances  with  which  they  were  connected. 

Still  another  of  this  little  band  was  James  Hughes, 
brother  of  Thomas  Edgar  Hughes,  born  in  York  county. 
Pa.,  about  1765.  He  was  a  graduate  of  New  Jersey 
College,  and  studied  theology  under  Dr.  McMillan.1 
From  1790  to  1814,  he  was  pastor  of  Short  Creek  and 
Lower  Buffalo  Churches.  Like  his  brethren,  he  per- 
formed a  large  amount  of  missionary  labor.  None  of 
his  excursions  were  more  profitable  than  the  one  which 
he  made  to  Ligonicr,  Westmoreland  county,  in  1792. 
Among  his  hearers  was  one  destined  to  become  a  most 
efficient  co-laborer  in  the  same  field.  This  was  Elisha 
Macurdy,  then  a  young  man  of  twenty-eight  years. 
The  sermon  induced  him  to  purchase  a  Bible,  to  learn 

1  This  is  somewhat  uncertain. 


S28  HISTORY    OF    PRESRYTERIANISM. 

whether  the  statements  and  warnings  of  the  preacher 
were  sustained  by  it.  A  great  and  permanent  change 
was  the  result.  A  good  old  lady  expressed  her  confi- 
dence in  his  piety  by  saying,  "  If  Mr.  Macurdy  has  no 
religion,  God  help  the  world."  Yet  at  this  time  he 
was  not,  in  his  after-judgment,  truly  converted.  A 
sermon  by  John  McPherrin  brought  him  to  clearer 
views  of  the  truth,  and  was  blessed  in  leading  him  to 
a  genuine  Christian  experience. 

From  this  moment  his  course  was  decided.  He  sold 
his  farm  to  defray  the  expense  of  his  education,  and 
became  a  member  of  the  Academy  at  Canonsburg. 
Here  he  completed  his  theological  as  well  as  literary 
course  (1798).  In  connection  with  the  Presbytery,  he 
abounded  in  missionary  service.  He  was  one  of  the 
leading  spirits  of  the  Western  Missionary  Society,  and 
had  an  important  agency  in  connection  with  the  great 
revival  in  Western  Pennsylvania  in  1801-2.  For  nearly 
forty  years  he  continued  his  career  of  "  most  self-deny- 
ing and  unremitting  labor, — for  thirty-five  years  at 
Cross  Roads  and  Three  Springs  (1800-1835)." 

Among  his  teachers  in  1796,  at  Canonsburg,  was 
John  Watson.  At  nine  years  of  age  the  latter  was  left 
a  friendless  orphan.  A  neighbor  of  his  father  took  him 
into  his  family;  and  here  young  Watson  found  a  large 
collection  of  books,  especially  of  novels.  These  he 
devoured  with  a  strange  eagerness,  contriving  means 
to  procure  them  even  after  they  had  been  carefully 
locked  up.  At  every  leisure  moment  his  beloved  books 
occupied  his  attention.  Addison's  Spectator  fell  into 
his  hands,  and  was  read  with  great  delight.  But  the 
Latin  sentences,  prefixed  as  mottoes  to  each  number, 
puzzled  him.  He  was  mortified  at  his  ignorance,  and 
resolved  to  learn  Latin.  By  the  aid  of  a  copy  of 
Horace,  and  an  old  broken  dictionary,  without  even  a 
grammar,  he  commenced  his  task.  While  thus  engaged, 


NEW   JEB8EY   AND   PENNSYLVANIA,    1789  L800.       329 

Alexander  Addison,  Presidenl  of  the  Courl  of  Common 
Pleas  in  the  Western  Distrid  of  Pennsylvania,  lodged 
at  the  house  where  Watson  lived.  Eere  he  found  the 
young  bar-keeper,  after  the  family  had  retired  to  rest, 
reading  Horace  by  firelight.  To  hie  surprise,  he  learned 
tin-  remarkable  progress  that  the  youth  had  already 
made.  With  expressions  of  regrel  thai  he  had  do 
better  advantages,  the  jurist  promised  to  bring  him,  on 
his  return  at  the  nexl  session  of  court,  some  more 
suitable  books.  It  was  the  firsl  encouraging  word  in 
regard  to  his  studies  which  the  orphan-boy  had  heard 
6ince  his  father's  death.  In  due  time  the  jurist  returned 
with  the  books.  "  Never,"  said  Watson,  relating  the 
incident,  "  did  I  experience  a  more  joyful  moment.  My 
heart  was  so  full  I  could  not  utter  a  word." 

Besides  classical  works,  he  was  furnished  with  others 
on  History,  Belles-Lettres,  Philosophy,  &c.  These  were 
eagerly  devoured.  The  teacher  of  the  village  gram- 
mar-school gave  him  valuable  aid.  At  the  age  of  nine- 
teen, his  attainments  and  worth  became  widely  known, 
and  through  the  influence  of  Dr.  McMillan  he  was  ap- 
pointed  assistant  teacher  in  the  Academy  of  Canons- 
burg.  This  was  in  17(.>2.  A  iter  a  service  of  eighteen 
months,  his  venerable  patron  procured  for  him  a  scho- 
larship at  Princeton.  Returning  thence  on  the  comple- 
tion of  his  studies,  he  was  immediately  chosen  principal 
of  the  Academy,  and  soon  after,  by  an  able  and  power- 
ful appeal  to  the  Legislature,  he  obtained  the  charter 
of  Jefferson  College 

In  1798, he  was  licensed  to  preach,  and  for  four  years 
had  the  pastoral  charge  of  a  small  congregation  three 
miles  from  Canonsburg.  But  his  career  was  short. 
His  labors  were  arduous,  and  his  health,  injured  seri- 
ously  already  by  severe  application  to  study,  was  fast 
giving  way.  lie  died  in  1802;  and  over  him  might  have 
been  pronounced,  with  equal  appropriateness,  the  bcau- 

28* 


330  HISTORY    OP    PRESBYTERIANISM. 

tiful  lines  in  which  Byron  has  commemorated  the  genius 
and  the  untimely  fate  of  Henry  Kirke  White.  Yet  his 
memory  and  influence  were  not  lost.  Several  distin- 
guished ministers  were  trained  in  part  under  his  care, 
and  his  name  occupies  an  honorable  place  on  the  records 
of  that  pioneer  Presbytery, — the  Presbytery  of  Ohio. 

About  the  commencement  of  the  present  century, 
another  laborer,  of  kindred  spirit  and  of  eminent  gifts, 
had  joined  the  little  band.  This  was  Mr.  (afterward 
Dr.)  John  Anderson,  who  had  received  his  entire  clas- 
sical and  theological  education  at  the  Academy  of  the 
Rev.  David  Caldwell,  pastor  at  Buffalo  and  Alamance 
in  North  Carolina.  He  was  remarkable  for  his  ardent 
and  self-denying  zeal.  In  missionary  labor  he  had,  even 
in  that  age,  scarce  a  rival.  He  was  licensed  by  the  Pres- 
bytery of  Orange,  N.C.,  in  1791,  and  for  two  years 
labored  in  the  vicinity  of  the  borders  of  this  and  the 
adjoining  State  of  South  Carolina.  From  1793  to  1798, 
he  itinerated  through  the  States  of  Tennessee  and 
Kentucky,  sometimes  crossing  the  Ohio  and  preaching 
to  the  extreme  frontier  settlements.  Unaided  by  any 
missionary  association,  and  often  subjected  to  great 
dangers  and  privations,  he  exhibited  just  those  quali- 
ties which  were  most  necessary  in  the  broad  field  which 
spread  around  him.  The  Ohio  Presbytery  found  in  him 
a  most  efficient  co-laborer,  and  desired  him  to  take  up 
a  permanent  residence  among  them.  For  nearly  a  third 
of  a  century  he  was  pastor  of  the  Upper  Buffalo  Church 
of  Washington  county. 

In  the  autumn  of  1793,  Thomas  Moore  was  settled 
as  pastor  of  Ten-Mile,  as  successor  of  the  pioneer  Thad- 
deus  Dod,  who  had  died  a  few  months  previous.  He 
was  a  native  of  ISIew  England,  and  was  received  from 
the  Bristol  Association  of  Massachusetts.  With  a  voice 
clear  and  sonorous,  a  delivery  warm  and  animated,  a 
vigorous  intellect,  high   culture,  ardent  temperament, 


NEW   JER8EY   AM)   PENNSYLVANIA,   1789-1S00.       381 

and  active  eeal,  he  proved  a  valuable  accession  to  the 
Presbytery.1  His  Eastern  associations  made  him  the 
principal  channel  through  which  reports  of  the  progress 
of  the  gospel  and  revivals  among  the  churches  wera 
communicated  to  the  journals  in  the  older  Stales.  His 
own  labors,  both  at  Ten-Mile,  and  subsequently  at 
Salem,  were  largely  blessed.  In  his  ten  years' ministry 
at  the  former  place,  about  two  hundred  persons  were 
received  to  the  Church  on  profession  of  their  faith.  The 
log  meeting-house  built  in  1785  at  Lower  Ten-Mile 
proved  too  small  for  the  congregation,  and  during  Mr. 
Moore's  ministry  another  was  erected  at  Upper  Ten 
Mile. 

Mr.  Moore  is  said  to  have  been  "  a  terrible  scourge 
of  Arminianism."  In  theology  he  was  a  Ilopkinsian, 
and  his  Calvinism  was  of  an  ultra  type.  Tradition 
reports — although  unwarrantably — that  he  preached 
the  doctrine  of  infant-damnation.  The  report  origi- 
nated, no  doubt,  in  the  severe  exposition  which  he  was 
wont  to  give  of  orthodox  doctrine.  He  dwelt  much,  in 
his  preaching,  on  the  terrors  of  the  law.  lie  was  bold 
and  uncompromising  in  his  denunciations  of  sin  in  all 
its  forms,  but  especially  when  it  assumed  the  shape  of 
formalism  and  hypocrisy  in  the  Church. 

Other  laborers  in  the  field  at  this  early  period  were 
Messrs.  John  Brice.  William  Wood,  William  Wick,  G. 
Scott,  Joseph  Anderson,  A.  Gwinn,  John  McClean,  and 
J.  Snodgrass.  By  these  men  an  extensive  field  was 
occupied,  and  a  remarkable  amount  of  missionary 
labor  performed.  Five  of  the  nineteen  ministers  were 
settled  "  over  the  Ohio  River," — one,  William  Wick, 
thirty-eight  miles  west  of  the  river,  within  eight  miles 
of  Youngstown,  where  he  preached  a  third  part  of  the 
time    as    a   temporary    supply.     From    the    month  of 

i  Wiucs's  Historical  Discourse,  pp.  1G,  17. 


332  HISTORY   OF   PRESBYTERIANISM. 

August,  1799,  to  November,  1800,  the  Presbytery  or- 
dained ten  ministers  of  the  gospel,  of  whom  nine  were 
installed,  and  one  dismissed  to  go  and  itinerate  in  the 
State  of  Tennessee,  while  one  was  received  from  the 
Presbytery  of  Brunswick,  thus  in  the  space  of  little 
more  than  a  year  more  than  doubling  the  number  of 
the  members  of  the  body. 

Meanwhile,  three  candidates  for  licensure  were  on 
trial,  and  several  more  were  expecting  soon  to  offer 
themselves.  The  churches  were  chiefly  supplied  from 
McMillan's  school,  "  a  little  academy  in  Canonsburg, 
with  no  resources,  supported  entirely,  till  of  late,  by 
the  Presbyterian  clergy  and  their  people."  There  was 
an  urgent  necessity,  notwithstanding  all  that  had  been 
done,  for  more  laborers.  "  In  this  quarter,"  writes  Rev. 
Thomas  Moore  (January,  1801),  "  the  field  is  wide  and 
extensive,  the  harvest  truly  great,  but  the  laborers  com- 
paratively few."  A  most  grateful  welcome  did  the  mis- 
sionaries of  the  Connecticut  Missionary  Society  receive 
from  the  members  of  the  Ohio  Presbytery  on  their  way 
to  New  Connecticut.  Two  of  them,  Joseph  Badger 
and  David  Bacon,  had  already  made  transient  visits  to 
that  inviting  and  destitute  field,  and  more  were  soon  to 
follow  in  their  track,  Ezekiel  J.  Chapman  in  the  follow- 
ing year. 

Meanwhile,  several  of  the  congregations  connected 
with  the  Presbytery  were  visited  by  seasons  of  refresh- 
ing. There  were  revivals,  some  characterized  by  great 
power,  in  the  churches  of  which  McMillan.  Patterson, 
Hughes,  Brice,  and  Moore  were  pastors.  On  his  way 
to  his  field  of  labor  (November,  1800)  in  New  Connec- 
ticut, Joseph  Badger  "passed  through  and  near  to 
twenty  Presbyterian  congregations,"  where  from  1798 
there  had  been  "  a  pretty  general  serious  awakening."1 

i  Conn.  Ev.  Mag.,  1801. 


17*9-1800.  333 

Many  hundred  souls  were  converted.  The  revival 
extended  nearly  eighty  miles  from  cast  to  west.  The 
nrw  settlements  aorthwest  of  the  Ohio,  to  the  very 
bounds  of  Now  Connecticut,  were  "visited  in  a  special 
manner/'  The  work  was  free  from  enthusiasm,  but 
characterized  by  great  power.1 

By  the  commencement  of  the  present  century,  "six- 
teen or  seventeen  very  worthy  and  pious  ministers" 
had  been  trained  for  their  work  in  the  -'academic 
school"  of  Can onsburg.  It  was  at  first  thought  that 
it  would  be  difficult  to  supply  them  all  with  fields  of 
labor.  But  the  revival  "opened  places  enough."  By 
September,  1800,  there  were  three  ordained  ministers 
connected  with  the  Ohio  Presbytery  in  or  near  the 
Western  Bescrve. 


CHAPTER  XVI. 

MARYLAND    AND    VIRGINIA,    17S9-1800. 

Although  the  Presbyterian  Church  in  this  country 
had  been  first  planted  on  the  Eastern  Shore  of  Mary- 
land, yet  there  were  man}'  obstacles  to  its  spread  both 
in  Maryland  and  Virginia,  which,  until  the  close  of  the 

1  From  1781  to  1807,  an  extensive  work  of  grace  was  experienced 
in  the  churches  of  Cross  Creek,  Upper  Buffalo,  Chartiers,  Pigeon 
Creek,  Bethel,  Lebanon,  Ten-Mile,  Cross  Roads,  and  Mill  Creek, 
during  which  more  than  one  thousand  persons  were  converted. 
From  1705  to  1700,  another  series  of  gracious  visitations  wns 
enjoyed  by  the  churches  of  Western  Pennsylvania,  extending  to 
the  new  settlements  north  of  Pittsburg.  Dr.  McMillan  received  to 
his  church  one  hundred  ami  ten.  and  Thomas  Marquis  one  hundred 
ami  twenty-three  persona.  Large  additions  were  made,  to  others.- 
llumphrei/ $  "  lie  civ  a  I  Sketches." 


334  HISTORY    OF    PRESBYTERIANISM. 

Revolutionary  War.  effectually  retarded  its  growth. 
Maryland  was  a  Roman  Catholic  colony,  and  but  a 
small  proportion  of  its  inhabitants  would  have  been 
disposed  to  welcome  Presbyterian  missionary  labor  or 
Presbyterian  institutions ;  while  Virginia,  settled  by 
"  Cavaliers,"  and  with  the  Episcopal  for  the  established 
Church  of  the  colony,  was  long  reluctant  even  to  tole- 
rate "Dissenters."  The  patriotic  fervor  of  the  Revo- 
lution, and  the  worldly  and  sometimes  disgraceful  con- 
duct and  character  of  the  Episcopal  clergy,1  combined 
to  effect  a  change  in  popular  feeling  and  sympathy, 
and  at  the  close  of  the  war  the  field  was  open  to  Pres- 
byterian effort. 

The  laborers,  indeed,  were  few  and  far  between.  The 
eloquence  of  Davies,  even,  had  been  like  the  voice  of 
one  crying  in  the  wilderness.  His  own  heart  was 
deeply  burdened  that  he  was  left  to  toil  almost  alone. 
During  the  war,  little  could  be  done  to  supply  spiritual 
destitution,  and  the  single  Presbytery  of  Hanover, 
feeble  in  numbers,  though  enterprising  in  spirit,  was 
left  to  occupy  and  supply  a  region  extending  on  every 
side  hundreds  of  miles. 

In  Western  Maryland  the  Presbyterian  Church  can 
scarcely  be  said  to  have  had  an  existence  until  after  the 
close  of  the  war.  Hagerstown  and  two  or  three  other 
congregations  were  under  the  care  of  Carlisle  Presby- 
tery, and  perhaps  as  many  more  feeble  congregations 
existed  between  the  Potomac  and  the  Chesapeake.  The 
Presbytery  of  Baltimore  was  formed,  by  a  division  of 
Donegal  Presbytery,  in  1786.  At  the  meeting  of  the 
first  General  Assembly,  it  reported  six  members  and 
twelve  churches.  Patrick  Allison  was  at  Baltimore, 
Isaac  S.  Keith  at  Alexandria.  Stephen  B.  Balch  at 
Georgetown,  James  Hunt  at  Bladensburg  and    Cabin 

1  Meade's  Churches  of  Virginia. 


MARYLAND    AND    VIRGINIA,  1789-1800.  335 

John,  John  Slenions  at  Slate  Ridge  and  Chance  FQrd, 
and  George  Lucky  al  Bethel  and  Centre;  while  Hope- 
well, Frederick,  and  Soldier's  Delighl  were  vacant. 

The  First  Presbyterian  Church  of  Baltimore  dates 
from  17Go.  During  the  preceding  year,  a  few  Presby- 
terians from  Pennsylvania  had  erected  a  log  church 
edifice  within  the  limits  of  the  future  city,  which  at 
that  time  could  boast  some  thirty  or  forty  houses  and 
some  three  hundred  inhabitants.1  Allison,  a  graduate 
of  the  University  of  Pennsylvania,  and  a  licentiate  of 
the  Second  Presbytery  of  Philadelphia,  was  at  the  time 
connected  with  the  Newark  Academy,  at  which  several 
young  men  from  Baltimore  were  pursuing  their  studies, 
and,  doubtless  through  their  influence,  he  was  induced 
for  one  or  more  Sabbaths  to  supply  the  pulpit.  So 
acceptable  were  his  services,  that  the  congregation  re- 
quested of  the  Presbytery  that  he  might  be  appointed 
to  supply  them  statedly  on  a  salary  of  one  hundred 
pounds  per  3-ear.  Declining  a  call  to  a  larger  church 
at  New  Castle,  he  accepted  the  appointment,  and  for 
thirty-five  years  continued  in  the  pastorate  of  the  First 
Church  of  Baltimore. 

The  congregation,  small  at  first, — numbering,  it  is 
supposed,  but  six  families,'2 — rapidly  increased;  the 
small  edifice  was  pulled  down  for  the  erection  of  a 
larger  one ;  this  was  subsequently  enlarged ;  and  at 
length,  to  accommodate  the  increased  numbers,  a  large, 
expensive,  and  elegant  structure  was  reared,  worthy 
the  enterprise  of  the  growing  city. 

The  personal  appearance  of  Dr.  Allison  was  highly 
commanding  and  impressive.  Of  medium  height,  but 
every  way  well  proportioned,  his  manners  combined,  to 

1  Sprague,  iii.  254. 

2  Baltimore  was  laid  out  as  a  town  by  Roman  Catholics  in  1729, 
and  up  to  1765  it  contained  but  fifty  houses. — Eighty  Tears'  Pro- 
gress, i.  183. 


336  HISTORY   OF   PRESBYTERIANISM. 

a  remarkable  degree,  grace  with  dignity.  With  a 
proper  self-respect,  yet  without  ostentation,  his  bearing 
toward  others  was  courteous  and  respectful.  With  a 
character  above  reproach,  with  intellectual  gifts  of  a 
high  order,  which  had  been  improved  and  expanded  by 
more  than  ordinary  culture,  ever  a  diligent  student,  as 
well  as  a  careful  observer  of  passing  events,  he  exerted 
a  powerful  and  extensive  influence  throughout  the  com- 
munity. Of  exquisite  literary  taste,  a  master  of  history, 
ancient  and  modern,  wielding  a  facile  and  yet  a  power- 
ful pen,  he  stood  ever  ready  to  defend  the  cause  of  his 
country  and  the  cause  of  religious  freedom.  During 
the  Eevolution,  and  after  the  close  of  the  war,  his  pen 
was  called  into  service,  first  to  repel  the  arrogant 
claims  of  Episcopacy  to  state  patronage,  and  after- 
ward in  defence  of  American  Protestantism.  His  large 
foresight  and  liberal  public  spirit  brought  him  forward 
on  repeated  occasions  when  the  cause  of  education  or 
the  public  welfare  demanded  an  able  champion.  With 
Old-side  sympathies  strong  to  the  last,  he  cannot  be 
classed  with  such  men  as  those  who  inherited  the  zeal 
of  the  Tennents  or  sympathized  with  the  revival 
efforts  of  Whitefield  \  and  yet  it  is  possible  that  in  the 
region  where  his  lot  was  cast  he  was  better  fitted  to 
accomplish  the  work  that  needed  to  be  done,  than  he 
would  have  been  with  less  learning  and  greater  zeal. 
Until  his  death  he  was  a  leading  member  of  the  Pres- 
bytery. Of  Baltimore  College  and  Baltimore  Library 
lie  was  one  of  the  original  founders.  In  the  judica- 
tories of  the  Church,  and  in  all  public  bodies  in  which 
he  was  called  to  take  a  part,  he  was  especially  eminent. 
His  great  sagacity,  perfect  self-control,  and  admirable 
command  of  thought  and  language  marked  him  out 
as  a  leader,  and  warranted  the  estimate  of  him  pro- 
nounced by  President  Samuel  Stanhope  Smith  : — "  Dr. 
Allison  is  decidedly  the  ablest  statesman  we  have  in 


MARYLAND    AND    VIRGINIA,  1789-1800.  337 

the  General  Assembly."  What  Franklin  was  to  tho 
State,  that,  in  large  measure, he  was  to  the  Church  ;  and 
a  striking  parallel  might  be  drawn  between  the  shrewd 
sagacity,  perspicuity  of  thought  and  expression,  free- 
dom from  impulse,  and  practical  utilitarianism,  by 
which  the  two  men  were  characterized. 

The  church  at  Alexandria  was  probably  formed 
shortly  before  the  commencement  of  the  Revolution- 
ary War.  In  1780,  William  Thorn,  who  had  supplied 
the  congregation  for  several  years,  and  perhaps  been 
settled  as  pastor,  was  dismissed,1  and  Isaac  S.  Keith  re- 
ceived "  an  affectionate  and  unanimous  call" — to  which 
"the  inhabitants  of  every  denomination  echoed  uni- 
versal consent" — as  his  successor.  The  church  was  at 
the  time  in  a  feeble  state,  with  a  limited  membership, 
and  largely  dependent  for  support  on  the  co-opera- 
tion of  other  denominations.  Mr.  Keith,2  a  native 
of  Newtown,  Pa.,  a  graduate  of  New  Jersey  College, 
and  a  theological  pupil  of  Eobert  Smith,  of  Pequa,  was 
indeed  the  man  for  the  place.  An  apt  scholar,  an 
elegant  writer,  fully  devoted  to  the  work  of  the  minis- 
try, unwearied  in  his  endeavors  to  promote  the  cause 
of  Christ,  he  originated,  while  at  Alexandria,  a  plan  for 
prayer  and  conference  meetings,  while  as  yet  they 
were  unknown,  and  endeavored  to  harmonize  in  effect- 
ive co-operation  the  various  religious  elements  of  the 
community.  For  nearly  a  quarter  of  a  century  after 
his  dismissal  from  Alexandria,  he  was  the  respected 
and  beloved  pastor  of  the  Circular  Church  (Independ- 
ent) of  Charleston,  S.C. ;  and  rarely  has  any  career 
been  crowned  with  more  honorable  memories  of  use- 

1  William  Thom  was  a  licentiate  of  Donegal  Presbytery  in  1771 
(Synod  s  Minutes,  1772),  and  was  ordained  in  the  following  year. 
He  probably  commenced  his  labors  soon  after  in  Alexandria  or  its 
vicinity. 

8  Remains  of  Rev.  Isaac  S.  Keith — Biographical  Sketch. 

Vol.  I.— 2? 


338  HISTORY    OP    PRESBYTERIANISM. 

fulness  and  devotion.  An  American  edition  of  John 
Newton,  revised  and  improved, — his  letters,  enriched 
with  quotations  from  the  "  Olney  Hymns,"  repeatedly 
remind  us  of  the  good  sense  and  fervent  piety  of  the 
friend  of  Cowper,  Wilberforce,  and  Scott.  The  son-in- 
law  of  Dr.  Sproat  of  Philadelphia,  the  correspondent 
of  Dr.  Green,  a  fast  friend  of  missions,  a  principal 
founder  of  the  Charleston  Bible  Society  in  1810,  exten- 
sively acquainted  with  the  condition  and  wants  of  the 
country  and  the  world,  his  life  was  one  of  uninterrupted 
and  uniform  effort  in  behalf  of  the  cause  to  which  he 
had  devoted  himself;  and  when,  in  the  vigor  of  his 
years,  he  fell  (1813)  at  his  post,  tears  of  unaffected 
grief  from  hundreds  of  mourning  friends  attested  their 
deep  sense  of  the  loss  which  they  had  experienced. 

His  eight  years'  ministry  at  Alexandria  was  a  period 
of  peace  and  prosperity  to  the  Church.  Commanding 
the  respect  and  confidence  of  the  entire  community, 
but  especially  the  regard  and  attachment  of  his  own 
flock,  his  resignation  of  his  office  was  universally 
lamented,  and  the  congregation  felt  it  to  be  their  duty 
earnestly  to  remonstrate  against  his  removal.  (Sept. 
10,  1788.) 

The  successor  of  Mr.  Keith,  in  the  following  year, 
was  James  Muir,  whose  ministry  extended  from  1789 
to  1820. 

The  First  Presbyterian  Church  of  Georgetown  (D.C.) 
dates  from  1780. *  In  March  of  that  year,  Stephen 
Bloomer  Balch  entered  upon  this — at  the  time — most 
unpromising  field.  He  had  visited  the  place  some 
months  previous,  on  his  journey  with  a  view  to  mis- 
sionary labor  in  the'Carolinas.  The  people  invited 
him  to  remain,  promising  him  to  build  him  a  church; 
but,  though  encouraging  them  to  hope  for  a  compliance 

1  Spraguej  iii.  411. 


Maryland  and  Virginia,  i78»-i8oo.  339 

at  some  future  period,  he  declined  to  abandon  his  pre- 
senl  purpose. 

The  congregation  was  small  and  feeble;  but  in  1782, 
a  few  individuals  interested  in  sustaining  divine  insti- 
tutions joined  in  building  a  very  plain  house  for  public 
worship.  Seven  persons,  including  the  pastor,  were 
all  who  joined  in  the  first  celebration  of  the  Lord's 
Supper.  But  with  the  increase  of  population  and  the 
growth  of  the  place  the  church  steadily  increased  in 
strength,  until  it  was  found  necessary  first  to  enlarge 
the  church  edifice,  and  at  length  (1821)  to  erect  one 
more  spacious  and  commodious. 

The  ministry  of  Dr.  Balch  at  Georgetown  extended 
over  a  period  of  fifty-three  years,  and  was  highly  suc- 
cessful. His  personal  qualities  endeared  him  to  the 
people  of  his  charge.  Uniformly  cheerful,  and  some- 
times almost  hilarious  in  his  mirth, — even  shaking  the 
composure  and  ruffling  the  dignity  of  such  a  man  as 
Dr.  Ashbel  Green, — he  was  not  only  a  genial  compa- 
nion, and  a  favorite  among  his  congregation,  but  an 
earnest  and  animated  speaker,  and  of  unquestionable 
personal  piety.  In  the  pulpit  he  never  employed  notes ; 
and  yet  his  discourses  were  evidently  the  fruit  of 
mature  thought.  His  death  occurred  September  7, 
1833,  and  his  successors  were  John  C.  Smith  and  E.  T. 
Berry. 

Among  other  members  of  the  Presbytery  were — John 
Slemons,  a  graduate  of  Princeton,  a  licentiate  of  Done- 
gal Presbytery  in  1762,  ordained  in  1765  by  Carlisle 
Presbytery,  and  soon  after,  probably,  commencing  his 
labors  in  Maryland,  but  resigning  his  charge  previous 
to  1798 — George  Lucky,  a  graduate  of  Princeton,  or- 
dained by  the  New  Brunswick  Presbytery  in  1785, 
and  settled  over  the  churches  of  Bethel  and  Centre — 
and  James  Hunt  (ordained   by  New  Brunswick  Pres- 


340  HISTORY    OF    PRESBYTERIANISM. 

bytery  in  1761),  at  Bladensburg,  where  his  death 
occurred  in  1793. 

Shortly  after  the  decease  of  the  latter,  Caleb  Johnson 
was  settled  at  Deer  Creek,  and  Enoch  Matson  at  Ber- 
muda. Previous  to  1798,  Samuel  Martin  succeeded 
Slemons  at  Slate  Ridge,  while  Adam  Freeman  had 
under  his  charge  the  three  feeble  congregations  of 
Seneca,  Cabin  John,  and  Difficult;  and  Samuel  Knox — 
received  in  1795  from  the  Belfast  Presbytery,  in  Ire- 
land— was  settled  as  pastor  of  the  church  at  Frede- 
rick, which  had  been  gathered  there  through  the  exer- 
tions of  Mr.  Balch  soon  after  the  settlement  of  the 
latter  at  Georgetown  in  1780.1  In  1799,  William 
Maffit  was  pastor  at  Bladensburg,  and  John  Bracken- 
ridge2  had  charge  of  a  small  congregation  at  Washing- 
ton :  the  former,  however,  soon  relinquished  his  post, 
and  the  latter,  with  little  prospect  of  encouragement 
in  the  field,  soon  withdrew  (1800),  although  destined  to 
return  to  it  at  a  later  period. 

At  the  time  of  the  constituting  of  the  General  Assem- 
bly, the  Presbyterian  Church  in  Virginia  was  repre- 
sented by  the  two  Presbyteries  of  Lexington  and 
Hanover, — the  former  with  ten  ministers  and  twenty- 
eight  churches,  seventeen  of  which  were  vacant,  and 
the  latter  with  seven  ministers  and  twenty-one  churches, 
of  which  eight  were  vacant. 

In  Hanover  Presbytery,  Richard  Sanckey  was  at 
Buffalo  Creek;  John  Todd3  at  Providence,  Bird  and 
Ford  of  Pamunky;  William  Irvine  at  North  Garden, 
Rich  Cove,  Mountain  Plains,  and  Dee  Ess;  John  Blair 
Smith  at  Cumberland  and  Briery;  James  Mitchell  at 


1  Sprague,  iii.  412. 

2  Maffit  and  Brackenridge  were  r  oth  licentiates  of  the  Presbytery. 
See  Annual  Reports  to  Assembly,  1791-1800. 

»  Died  July  27,  1793. 


MARYLAND    AND    VIRGINIA,    1739-J800.  341 

Peaks  of  Otter;  and  John  D.Blair  at  Hanover  and 
Henrico.  The  churches  of  Cuh  Crook,  Rock  Fish, 
Concord,  J I  at  Creek,  Fauquier,  Blue  Stone,  Lancaster, 
and  Head  of  Smith's  River  were  vacant.  Within  a 
few  years  the  names  of  some  of  the  most  eminent 
ministers  of  the  Church  were  to  be  found  on  the  roll  of 
this  Presbytery, — Archibald  Alexander,  William  Cal- 
hoon,  James  Turner,  Drury  Lacy,  and  James  Ro- 
binson. 

In  a  field  where  the  name  of  Davies  was  a  house- 
hold word,  and  through  which  Whitoficld  had  passed 
and  repassed  on  his  preaching-tours,  there  were  now  to 
be  found  men  who,  almost  sinking  under  their  accu- 
mulated tasks,  labored  nobly  to  stay  the  tide  of  irre- 
ligion  which  was  sweeping  over  the  land,  and  to  which 
Virginia  in  an  especial  manner  was  exposed.  The 
Episcopal  Church  was,  as  a  body,  in  a  most  lamentable 
condition.  She  had  not  yet  begun  to  feel  that  new 
impulse  which,  through  the  influence  of  Wilberforce, 
Newton,  Scott,  and  others  in  England,  and  the  labors 
of  Bishops  Madison  and  White  in  this  country,  was 
ere  long  to  open  before  her  brighter  prospects.1  The 
effects  of  the  war,  the  spread  of  French  politics  and  spe- 
culation, and  the  extensive  apostasy  of  many  from  the 
zeal  and  devotion  of  the  period  preceding  the  war,  de- 
manded special  effort  on  the  part  of  the  few  Presbyte- 
rian ministers  of  Virginia.  They  were  surrounded  on 
every  side  by  a  missionary  field.  The  churches  were 
few  and  feeble,  and  the  lot  of  the  pastors  was  one  of 
no  little  self-denial. 

Glancing  over  the  roll  of  the  Presbytery,  we  find 
names  well  worthy  of  honorable  mention  : — Sanckey," 
now  an  old  man, — the  patriarch  of  the  Synod  of  which 
he  was  the  first  moderator,  but  still  discharging  his 

1  Meade's  Churches  of  Virginia.  2  Webster,  457. 

29* 


342  HISTORY    OF    PRESBYTERIANISM. 

duties  to  the  Buffalo  congregation,  who  nearly  thirty 
years  before  had  fled  from  savage  incursions  to  their 
present  location,  and  who  still  clung  to  the  pastor  who 
had  shared  their  lot;  Matthew  Lyle,1  his  successor  at 
Buffalo,  which  he  supplied  in  connection  with  Briery, — 
a  man  of  sound  judgment  and  sterling  integrity,  of  uni- 
form temper  and  devotion,  honest,  sincere,  faithful, 
and  in  the  pulpit  discarding  notes,  but  clear,  forcible, 
and  effective  both  in  thought  and  utterance;  John 
Durborrow  Blair,2  a  son  of  John  Blair  of  Fagg's  Manor, 
subsequently  principal  of  Washington  Hall  Academy, 
and  in  1785  a  licentiate  of  Hanover  Presbytery, — a 
man  who  was  esteemed  by  those  who  had  listened  to 
the  eloquence  of  Davies  fit  to  be  his  successor,  and 
whose  elegance  of  speech  and  manners  was  in  keeping 
with  his  refined  and  exquisite  taste;  John  Blair  Smith,* 
who  as  yet  had  given  but  the  earnest  of  that  eloquence 
which  was  to  thrill  crowded  assemblies,  and  whose 
intense  earnestness  and  glowing  piety  seemed  to  lend 
a  more  than  human  energy  and  endurance  to  his  en- 
feebled frame;  and  James  Mitchel,  whose  ministry  at 
the  Peaks  of  Otter  extended  from  1786  to  1841,  and 
whose  force,  animation,  and  startling  earnestness  in 
the  pulpit  fixed  his  words  like  arrows  in  the  heart 
and  conscience  of  the  hearer. 

Besides  these,  but  at  this  time  without  charge,  was 
another  member  of  the  Presbytery,  whose  fame  will  en- 
dure while  literature  cherishes  the  name  of  the  author 
of  the  "  British  Spy."  It  may  be  that  William  Wirt 
allowed  himself  something  of  a  poetic  license  in  his  de- 
scription of  the  eloquence  of  the  "  old  blind  preacher;" 
but  James  Waddel  was  no  ordinary  man.  Tall,  slender, 
and  erect  in  person,  graceful  and  dignified  in  de- 
meanor, with  a  long  face,  high  forehead,  Grecian  nose, 

i  Sprague,  iii.  629.  2  Ibid.  iii.  459.  3  Ibid.  397. 


1789-1800.  343 

blue  eyes,  and  small  month  and  chin,i  his  appearance 
was  at  once  conciliating  and  commanding.     J I  is  mind, 

richly  stored  and  well  disciplined,  was  at  the  same 
time  well  balanced;  and,  though  he  had  never  enjoyed 
the  advantages  of  a  collegiate  education,  yet  at  Dr. 
Finley's  school  at  Nottingham,  first  as  a  pupil,  then 
as  an  assistant  teacher,  and  at  length  as  an  assistant 
in  Eobert  Smith's  school  at  Pequa,  he  diligently 
amassed  those  stores  of  learning  which,  whether  by 
the  fireside  in  familiar  conversation,  or  in  the  pulpit, 
were  so  perfectly  at  command.  On  a  journey  to 
Charleston,  he  met  Samuel  Davies,  then  at  Hanover, 
and  through  his  influence  was  led  to  devote  himself  to 
the  ministry.  In  April,  17(31,  he  was  licensed  by  the 
old  Presbytery  of  Hanover;  and  such  was  the  popu- 
lar appreciation  of  his  zeal  and  ability  that  at  the 
October  meeting  five  calls  were  put  into  his  hands.  He 
declined  them  all,  however,  intending  to  return  to  Penn- 
sylvania. But  representations  of  the  spiritual  destitu* 
tion  of  the  county  of  Lancaster  so  affected  him  that 
he  consented  to  accept  an  invitation  to  the  pastorate 
of  Lancaster  and  Northumberland  congregations. 

Here  he  remained  (17G2-1776)  for  fourteen  years, 
removing  in  1778  to  Augusta  county  and  supplying 
for  seven  years  the  congregation  of  Tinkling  Spring, 
and  for  the  latter  portion  of  the  time  that  of  Staunton. 
In  1785,  he  removed  to  Louisa,  where  he  supplied 
several  neighboring  churches  and  engaged  in  the  em- 
ployment of  teaching,  yet  without  a  stated  charge. 

It  was  here — at  the  little  church  about  two  miles 
from  his  residence,  which  he  named  Hopewell — that 
Wirt  heard  him.  His  sight  was  gone,  and  his  limbs 
trembled  from  the  effects  of  a  stroke  of  palsy.  But 
the  cultivated  taste  of  the  statesman  was   captivated 

1  Spraguc,  iii.  239. 


344  HISTORY    OF    PRESBYTERIANISM. 

by  the  sublime  simplicity  and  thrilling  utterance  of 
the  "  old  man  eloquent."  As  the  latter  closed  his  de- 
scription of  the  crucifixion  by  the  quotation  from  Kous- 
seau, — "  Socrates  died  like  a  philosopher,  but  Jesus 
Christ,  like  a  God  I" — it  seemed  to  Wirt  the  climax 
of  eloquence.  "  Whatever,"  he  says,  "  I  may  have  been 
able  to  conceive  of  the  sublimity  of  Massillon,  or  the 
force  of  Bourdaloue,  had  fallen  short  of  the  power 
which  I  felt  from  the  delivery  of  this  simple  sentence." 
"  I  had  never  seen,"  he  remarks,  "  in  any  other  orator, 
such  a  union  of  simplicity  and  majesty.  He  has  not  a 
gesture,  an  attitude,  or  an  accent  to  which  he  does  not 
seem  forced  by  the  sentiment  he  is  expressing.  His 
mind  is  too  serious,  too  earnest,  too  solicitous,  and  at 
the  same  time  too  dignified,  to  stoop  to  artifice." 

Under  the  eastern  shadows  of  the  Blue  Eidge  he  had 
lived  and  died  perhaps  unknown  to  fame,  but  for  the 
chance  which  brought  William  Wirt  within  the  sound 
of  his  voice.  And  yet  we  have  abundant  testimony  to 
confirm  all  the  impressions  that  we  gather  from  the 
report  of  the  "  British  Spy."  "  I  am  satisfied,"  said 
William  Calhoon,  after  having  heard  him  on  one  occa- 
sion, "  that  I  never  witnessed  such  a  torrent  of  elo- 
quence before  or  since."  In  the  course  of  a  trial  in 
Presbytery,  an  intelligent  elder  present,  who  had  heard 
some  of  Patrick  Henry's  most  successful  pleas  in  crimi- 
nal cases,  but  who  now  had  the  privilege  of  listening 
to  Dr.  Waddel,  declared  that  this  was  the  most  perfect 
specimen  of  eloquence  which  he  ever  heard.  Governor 
Barbour,  of  Virginia, — a  pupil  of  Dr.  Waddel, — shortly 
before  his  death,  stated  to  a  friend  in  Philadelphia  that 
Dr.  W.  had  spoiled  him  in  regard  to  hearing  other 
preachers. 

Yet  the  eloquence  of  Dr.  Waddel  was  not  spasmodic, 
nor  the  result  of  any  excessive  development  of  any 
particular    intellectual    gift.      His    well-stored    mind 


MARYLAND    AND    VIRGINIA,    17S9-1800.  345 

seemed  without  an  effort  to  pour  forth  its  treasures, 
and  in  full  and  graceful  vol  nine  they  flowed  along  a 
channel  rich  with  native  beauty  and  adorned  with 
finished  culture.  And  yet  more  precious  than  the 
charm  of  words  was  the  spell  which  his  own  intense 
yet  subdued  feeling  cast  over  his  audience.  He  spoke 
from  the  depths  of  conviction.  His  hearers  were  not 
left  to  criticize  his  logic,  or  to  admire  his  elegance  of 
speech.  No  ostentatious  display  was  allowed  to  obscure 
his  theme,  or  present  him  in  his  Master's  stead.  Nor 
was  the  piety  of  the  preacher  confined  to  the  pulpit. 
By  the  fireside,  in  the  social  circle,  in  affliction,  on  the 
sick  and  the  dying  bed,  he  was  still  the  same  intelli- 
gent, calm,  trustful,  hopeful  servant  of  Him  to  whom 
he  had  consecrated  his  life.  Till  1805  he  was  spared, 
occasionally  to  occupy  the  pulpit,  and  finally  to  crown 
a  devoted  life  with  the  serene  triumphs  of  a  Christian 
faith. 

The  field  of  Lexington  Presbytery,  stretching  from 
Northern  Virginia  near  Winchester  to  the  south- 
western portion  of  the  State,  and  covering  the  entire 
region  west  of  the  Blue  Eidge,  had  but  six  settled  pas- 
tors in  1789.  Far  to  the  extreme  south,  at  New  Provi- 
dence, was  John  Brown,  the  patriarch  of  the  Presby- 
tery. Thirty-five  years  before,  Samuel  Davies,  who 
preached  his  ordination  sermon  (at  Fagg's  Manor), 
spoke  of  him  as  "  a  youth  of  piety,  prudence,  and  zeal;" 
and  now,  after  a  thirty-years  pastorate  at  Newark,  Dr. 
McWhorter  could  recall  the  searching  discourse  which 
from  the  lips  of  the  youthful  preacher  had  arrested  his 
attention  and  led  him  to  the  Saviour.  Till  1770,  }Ir. 
Brown  was  settled  at  Timber  Ridge  and  Providence, 
retaining  the  latter  till  1707  j1   and  it  may  afford  somo 

1  His  successor  in  1708  was  Samuel  Brown,  a  licentiate  of  tlio 
Presbytery. 


346  HISTORY    OF    TllESBYTERIANISM. 

idea  of  the  state  of  things  among  thtf  seventeen  vacant 
congregations  of  the  Presbytery  to  know  how  tne 
signers  of  the  call,  addressed  to  him  more  than  the  life- 
time of  a  generation  previous,  had  described  their  con- 
dition. 

They  spoke  of  themselves  as  having  been  "  for  many 
years  past  in  very  destitute  circumstances  for  want  of 
the  ordinances  of  the  gospel  statedly  among  us,  many 
of  us  under  distressing  spiritual  languish ments,  and 
multitudes  perishing  in  our  sins  for  want  of  the  bread 
of  life  broken  among  us;  our  Sabbaths  wasted  in 
melancholy  silence  at  home,  or  sadly  broken  and  pro- 
faned by  the  more  thoughtless  among  us  j  our  hearts 
and  hands  discouraged  and  our  spirits  broken  with 
our  mournful  condition  and  repeated  disappointments 
of  relief  in  this  particular."1 

Lower  down  the  Yalley,  in  Augusta  county,  at  Bethel 
and  Brown's  Church  (Hebron),  was  Archibald  Scott,  a 
native  of  Scotland,  a  pupil  of  Finley,  and  a  licentiate 
of  Hanover  Presbytery  in  1777.  Poor  and  friendless, 
without  a  relative  on  this  continent,  he  had  tasked  his 
energies  to  secure  an  education,  and,  while  he  rested 
from  his  labors  in  the  field,  conned  his  Latin  gram- 
mar, and  familiarized  the  lesson  while  he  followed  the 
plough.2 

Such  diligence  merited  patronage,  and  received  it.  A 
worthy  physician  of  Pennsylvania  assisted  to  support 
him  at  Dr.  Finley's  school.  While  there,  he  was  con- 
verted, and  devoted  himself  to  the  work  of  the  minis- 
try. Eemoving  to  the  Shenandoah  Yalley,  he  supported 
himself  by  teaching  while  he  studied  theology  with 
Principal  Graham,  of  Liberty  Hall  Academy.  Licensed 
to  preach,  he  had  not  far  to  go  to  find  a  settlement. 
For  more  than  twenty  years,  and  until  his  death,  in 

1  Wetater,  656.  2  Sprague,  iii.  387. 


17S8 -1800.  347 

IT!'1.'.  Hebron  and  Bethel  continued  to  bo  his  pastoral 
charge. 

The  parish  was,  in  fact,  a  missionary  field.  It  com- 
prehended a  district  of  country  some  twenty  miles 
square.  Yet,  arduous  as  were  the  duties  which  the  pas- 
toral care  of  it  imposed,  the  ability  of  the  people  did 
not  suffice  to  support  the  pastor,  and  a  scant  salary 
was  eked  out  by  labors  on  a  farm.  Yet,  by  great  energy 
and  tireless  devotion  and  perseverance,  Mr.  Scott  was 
enabled  to  discharge  his  appropriate  duties  as  a  minis- 
ter, without  suffering  himself  to  be  diverted  by  secular 
interests.  With  the  zeal  of  a  patriot  and  the  devotion 
and  self-denial  of  an  intelligent  Christian  pastor,  he 
exerted  himself  to  assist  in  laying  deep  the  foundations 
of  the  Republic  in  religious  truth,  and  prepare  the 
rising  generation  to  understand,  appreciate,  and  pre- 
serve constitutional  liberty. 

Augusta  Church — the  mother-church  of  Presby- 
terianism  in  the  Valley — had  for  its  pastor  William 
Wilson,  ordained  and  installed  two  or  three  years  pre- 
vious, and  destined  to  retain  the  pastorate  for  more 
than  twenty  years.  At  Mossy  Creek  and  Cook's  Creek 
(from  1780  until  his  death)  was  Benjamin  Erwin,  and 
at  Winchester,  with  congregations  at  Opeckon  and 
Cedar  Creek,  was  John  Montgomery;  while  John 
McCue  had  charge  of  Companion  and  Good  Hope  con- 
gregations. At  Shepherdstown,  where  the  religious 
state  of  things  seemed  quite  unpromising,  Moses  Hoge, 
commencing  his  labors  in  the  autumn  of  1787,  soon 
gathered  around  him  a  large  congregation,  of  which 
he  retained  the  charge  until  called  to  the  Presidency 
of  Hampden-Sidney  College  in  1807. 

Besides  these,  the  Presbytery  had  three  members 
without  pastoral  charge, — William  Graham,  James 
McConnell.  and  Edward  Crawford.  Bui  perhaps  there 
was  not  within  its  bounds  a  single  individual  who  was 


348  HISTORY    OF    PRESBYTERIANISM. 

accomplishing  a  more  important  work  than  "William 
Graham.  He  occupied  in  Lexington  Presbytery  a 
position  not  unlike  that  of  S.  S.  Smith  in  Hanover. 

Previous  to  1800,  several  other  names  had  been  added 
to  the  roll  of  the  Presbytery,  mostly  from  the  list  of  its 
own  licentiates.  Samuel  Houston  was  settled  at  Fall- 
ing Water  and  High  Bridge,  Benjamin  Grigsby  at 
Lewisburg  and  Concord,  and  Samuel  Brown  had  suc- 
ceeded John  Brown  at  New  Providence.  In  1799, 
John  Glendy,  subsequently  the  pastor  of  the  Second 
Church  of  Baltimore,  but  who  at  this  time  had  just 
escaped — a  refugee — from  his  native  land,  (Ireland)  com- 
menced his  brief  pastorate  as  the  successor  of  Archi- 
bald Scott  at  Bethel  and  Brown's  Church,  including  the 
congregation  of  Staunton.  During  the  same  year, 
George  Addison  Baxter  succeeded,  upon  the  death  of 
William  Graham,  to  the  charge  of  Liberty  Hall,  while 
he  ministered  also  to  the  congregations  of  New  Mon- 
mouth and  Lexington.  Shortly  after,  Bobert  Logan 
commenced  his  labors  at  Sinking  Spring  and  Boanoke. 

Perhaps  in  no  portion  of  the  Church,  save  on  the 
frontiers  west  of  the  Alleghanies,  had  the  progress  of 
the  Church  been  more  cheering  for  the  twelve  years 
which  followed  the  establishment  of  the  General  As- 
sembly than  in  the  Valley  of  Virginia.  The  number 
of  ministers  had  nearly  doubled,  and,  instead  of  eleven, 
they  had  charge  of  twenty-eight  congregations,  while 
the  vacancies  had  been  reduced  in  number  from  seven- 
teen to  fourteen.1  This  growth  was  largely  in  excess  of 
the  proportionate  increase  of  the  population  of  the 
State.  The  latter  had  advanced  at  the  rate  of  less  than 
twenty  per  cent.,  while  that  of  the  churches  of  the  Val- 
ley had  been  from  sixty  to  eighty  per  cent. 

In  1794,  the  Presbytery  of  Winchester  was  erected 


Assembly  Minutes,  1802. 


MARYLAND    AND    VIRGINIA,    1789-1800.  349 

by  a  division  of  Lexington.  It  embraced  those 
churches  which  lay  at  the  northern  extremity  of  the 
Valley,  and  in  17(.M>  had  under  its  care  Shepherdstown, 
under  the  pastorate  (1787)  of  Moses  Kcge;  Cedar 
Creek  and  Opeckon,  the  charge  (1790)  of  Nash  Le- 
grand;  Charlestown  and  Hopewell  (or  Berkeley),  under 
William  Hill  (1792);  South  River  and  Flint  Run, under 
William  Williamson;  Frankfort,  Romney,  and  Spring- 
field, for  a  short  time  under  John  Lyle;  together  with 
the  vacant  congregations  of  Concrete,  Middletown, 
Back  Creek,  Lancaster,  and  Winchester,  where  William 
Hill  in  the  following  year  commenced  his  pastorate  of 
thirty-four  years. 

Of  the  pastors  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  in  Vir- 
ginia in  1800,  a  large  proportion  had  been  educated  at 
Hampden-Sidney  College,  and  quite  a  number  had 
been  converted  in  the  revivals  of  1787-9.  It  is  not  too 
much  to  say  that  these  revivals  wrought  an  almost 
entire  revolution  in  the  prospects  of  the  Church  in  this 
region.  The  names  of  Blythe,  Hill,  Allen,  Reed,  Cal- 
hoon,  Lyle,  Legrand,  Alexander,  and  others  are  inti- 
mately associated  with  aggressive  missionary  effort, 
not  only  in  Virginia  but  in  the  new  fields  at  the  West; 
and  3'et  they  belong  to  the  class  which  at  Hampden- 
Sidney  or  Liberty  Hall  were  reached  and  brought 
into  the  ministry  through. the  influence  of  the  revival. 

It  is  a  significant  fact  that  the  revival  commenced 
in  connection  with  the  institutions  which  the  Synod 
had  established  for  the  education  of  young  men  for  the 
ministry.  At  an  early  period,  this  subject  had  claimed 
the  attention  of  the  friends  of  Christian  learning 
attached  to  the  Presbyterian  Church  in  Virginia. 

Before  the  commencement  of  the  Revolution,   the 

Presbytery   <>f   Hanover    had    felt  the   importance   of 

making  suitable  provision  tor  an   educated   ministry. 

The   College   of   William    and    Mary,    at   Williamsburg, 

Vol.  I.— 30 


350  HISTORY    OF    PRESBYTERIANISM. 

was  under  Episcopal  control,  as  well  as  expensive  in 
its  charges,  and  was  noted,  moreover,  for  the  preva- 
lence in  connection  with  it  of  immoral  and  deistical 
influences.  The  University  of  Virginia — the  pet  pro- 
ject of  the  Sage  of  Monticello — was  not  yet  in  exist- 
ence, nor,  had  it  been,  would  it  have  answered  the 
wants  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  of  Virginia.  Prince- 
ton was  too  remote  to  suit  the  convenience  or  wants 
of  those  whose  limited  means  forbade  them  to  take  the 
distant  and  expensive  journey.  The  obvious  policy  of 
the  Presbytery  was  to  have  institutions  more  accessible, 
and,  moreover,  under  their  own  care.  Two  academies 
were  therefore  established, — one  in  the  Valley,  and  the 
other  in  Prince  Edward  county.  The  last  grew  into 
Hampden-Sidney  College,  and  the  other  was  known  by 
the  no  less  significant  title  of  Liberty  Hall.1 

The  first  President  of  Hampden-Sidney  was  Eev. 
Samuel  Stanhope  Smith,  D.D.,  who,  until  his  removal 
to  Princeton  in  1779,  proved  himself  its  able  and  effi- 
cient head.  A  better  man  could  not  have  been  selected 
for  the  post.  He  was  the  son  of  Eev.  Dr.  Eobert  Smith, 
of  Pequa,  under  whom  large  numbers  of  young  men 
already  in  the  ministry  had  pursued  their  theological 
course.  His  mother  was  the  sister  of  Samuel  and  John 
Blair,  a  woman  of  sterling  piety  and  rare  intellectual 
gifts.  The  son  proved  himself  not  unworthy  of  such  a 
parentage.  At  a  very  early  age  his  mind  was  seriously 
impressed,  and  at  the  same  time  richly  stored  with 
acquisitions  worthy  of  more  mature  years.  After  com- 
pleting his  course  at  Princeton  with  high  distinction, 
he  engaged  for  a  time  in  assisting  his  father  in  the  con- 


1  For  a  history  of  this  institution,  known  successively  as  Augusta 
Academy,  Liberty  Hall,  and  Washington  College,  see  American 
Quarterly  Register  for  November,  1837.  The  circumstances  which 
led  to  Washington's  donation  are  there  stated. 


MARYLAND    AND    VIRGINIA,    1789-1800.  351 

duct  of  his  school,  but  was  soon  recalled  to  Princeton 
to  till  the  office  of  a  tutor  in  the  college.  After  remain- 
ing here  for  two  years,  he  was  licensed  to  preach  (1773) 
by  the  Presbytery  of  New  Castle.  For  the  benefit  of 
his  health,  which  had  suffered  from  too  severe  applica- 
tion, he  declined  at  first  any  permanent  charge,  and 
went  forth  as  a  missionary  to  the  western  counties  of 
Virginia.  Here  he  received  a  hearty  welcome,  and 
Boon  became  a  universal  favorite.  It  seemed  to  many 
that  the  mantle  of  Davis  had  fallen  upon  the  young 
preacher,  by  whose  eloquence  they  were  scarcely  less 
entranced. 

At  this  period  the  project  for  the  academy  or  college 
was  started.  Smith  was  designated  as  the  man  to  take 
successful  charge  of  the  difficult  enterprise.  The  sub- 
scriptions were  rapidly  filled  up.  The  anxiety  to  retain 
the  services  of  such  a  man  among  them  led  the  rich  to 
give  of  their  abundance  and  the  poor  of  their  poverty. 
The  necessary  buildings  were  erected,  a  charter  was 
secured  from  the  Legislature,  and  the  new  institution 
commenced  operations  under  the  most  favorable  aus- 
pices. Mr.  Smith  took  upon  him  for  several  years  the 
double  and  difficult  task  of  principal  of  the  seminary 
and  pastor  of  the  church. 

But  a  single  seminary  was  deemed  inadequate  to  the 
wants  of  so  vast  a  region  as  that  which  extended  on 
both  sides  of  the  Blue  Ridge  to  the  south  and  the  south- 
west. In  1774,  another  was  opened,  under  the  patron- 
age of  Hanover  Presbytery,  near  the  present  site  of 
Fairfield,  in  what  is  now  Eockbridge  county.  It  »t^s 
known  at  first  as  Augusta  Academy,  and  was  placed, 
by  the  recommendation  of  Dr.  Smith,  under  the  care  of 
William  Graham,  assisted  in  his  duties  by  John  Mont- 
gomery. 

Graham  was  the  son  of  a  Pennsylvania  farmer,  and 
from  early  years  was  inured  to  the  hardships  of  fron- 


352  HISTORY    OF    PltESBYTERIANISM. 

tier  life.  In  his  boyhood  he  had  been  posted  to  defend 
the  family  with  his  loaded  musket,  and  had  learned  to 
face  danger  without  a  fear.  Of  a  vigorous  and  sprightly 
turn  of  mind,  he  quickly  outstripped  his  associates  in 
study,  although  he  was  late  in  commencing  his  acade- 
mical course,  and  in  1773  was  graduated  at  Princeton. 
In  college  he  had  come  under  the  notice  of  Smith,  and 
in  the  following  year,  at  his  recommendation,  assumed 
the  charge  of  the  new  academy. 

He  proved  himself  worthy  of  the  trust  reposed  in 
him.  Funds  were  necessary  for  the  new  institution, 
and  he  did  much  in  collecting  them.  He  travelled  to 
New  England  to  solicit  benefactions;  but  the  period 
proved  unfavorable  for  his  efforts.  The  war  intervened 
with  its  discouragements,  and  Mr.  Graham  was  forced 
to  remove  the  school  to  his  own  house.  Yet  the  plan 
was  not  abandoned.  Even  in  its  then  humble  condition 
the  institution  was  doing  a  good  work.  The  late  Dr. 
Archibald  Alexander  received  his  training  here;  and 
this  fact  alone  would  have  made  the  institution  famous 
if  it  had  not  had  a  subsequent  history.  At  length  a 
frame  edifice  was  erected  for  its  accommodation,  and 
in  1782  it  was  incorporated  by  an  act  of  Legislature 
under  the  name  of  Liberty  Hall.  At  a  still  later  period 
it  was  endowed  by  a  large  benefaction  from  President 
Washington,  and  thenceforward  bore  his  name.  The 
humble  school  first  known  as  Augusta  Academy  had 
grown  into  the  more  imposing  institution  of  Washing- 
ton College. 

At  a  critical  moment,  and  not,  perhaps,  in  the  exer- 
cise of  a  wise  discretion,  Graham  resigned  his  post  in 
connection  with  the  college.  But  his  usefulness  was 
by  no  means  at  an  end.  He  turned  his  attention  now 
to  the  subject  of  theological  education,  and  had,  for 
several  successive  years,  a  class  of  from  seven  to  eight 
under  his  instruction.     Some  of  those  rose  to  high  dis- 


MARYLAND   AND   VIRGINIA,    17S0-1800.  353 

tinction,  and  hie  school  was,  in  factj  an  ••  incipient  theo- 
logical seminary/' 

Between  L786  and  1788,  both  these  colleges,  which 
for  a  time  seemed  scarcely  to  give  promise  of  fulfilling 
the  hopes  of  their  founders,  were  visited  by  a  remark- 
able revival  of  religion.  At  Ilampden-Sidney,  then 
under  the  charge  of  Eev.  John  Blair  Smith,  who  had 
succeeded  his  brother  as  President,  religion  was  at  a 
low  ebb.  At  the  time  of  Dr.  Blythe's  matriculation 
there  was  not  another  student  in  the  college  who  made 
any  serious  profession.  The  celebrated  Carey  II.  Allen 
was  commended  to  him  as  one  of  the  most  sedate  of  his 
associates;  but  scarce  had  he  formed  his  acquaintance 
before  he  was  called  to  witness  him  in  the  act  of  bur- 
lesquing a  Methodist  preacher  from  the  counter  of  a 
merchant's  store.  This  initiatory  specimen  of  college 
life  augured  badly  for  what  was  to  follow;  but,  rebuked 
by  the  fearless  avowal  of  Christian  principle  on  the 
part  of  a  classmate  (William  Hill)  under  serious  im- 
pressions, he  was  recalled  to  the  path  of  duty.  And 
now  there  gathered  round  him  a  little  band,  nearly 
every  one  of  them  destined  to  subsequent  and  distin- 
guished usefulness  in  the  service  of  the  Church.  Among 
these  were  Allen  himself,  and  William  Calhoon,  pioneer 
missionaries,  along  with  Blythe  to  Kentucky,  Clement 
Reed  and  William  Hill,  whose  names  will  not  soon  be 
forgotten  even  beyond  the  immediate  scene  of  their 
labors. 

Great  opposition  was  manifested  by  the  other  students 
to  the  revival.  The  praying  and  singing  of  the  little 
band  produced  almost  a  riot.  The  evil-disposed  gathered 
with  hideous  uproar,  mingled  with  oaths  and  ribaldry, 
to  drowm  the  voice  of  prayer.  But,  in  spite  of  oppo- 
sition, the  seriousness  spread.  Nearly  half  of  the  eighty 
students  were  brought  under  conviction.  Prayer-meet- 
ings were  held,  marked  with  deep,  silent,  solemn  feel- 

30* 


854  HISTORY    OF    PRESBYTERIANISM. 

ing.  President  Smith  himself  seemed  to  preach  with 
new  life.  Often  the  trunk  of  an  old  tree,  fallen  in  the 
woods,  served  him  for  a  pulpit,  from  which  on  repeated 
occasions  he  endeavored  to  deepen  the  impression  that 
had  already  been  made  on  the  minds  of  those  who  at- 
tended him,  or  whom  he  overtook,  in  his  walks.  Two 
hundred  and  twenty-five  persons  were  added  to  the 
churches  to  which  he  ministered,  in  the  space  of  eigh- 
teen months ;  while  the  revival  extended  over  Prince 
Edward,  Cumberland,  Charlotte,  and  Bedford  counties 
to  the  Peaks  of  Otter.1 

But  the  revival  was  fruitful  in  other  than  immediate 
results.  Among  the  converted  students,  besides  those 
already  mentioned,  were  Nash  Legrand,  Drury  Lacy, 
and  William  Williamson.  The  band  of  pious  youth  at 
this  time  gathered  within  the  walls  of  Hampden-Sidney 
were  destined  to  perform  most  important  service  in  the 
cause  of  Christ. 

The  news  of  what  had  taken  place  in  the  institution 
under  the  charge  of  President  Smith  reached  Graham, 
at  Augusta.  He  scarcely  needed  the  importunities  of 
his  friend  as  an  inducement  to  hasten  to  his  assistance. 
He  went,  accompanied  by  two  of  his  students,  Samuel 
Wilson  and  Archibald  Alexander,  to  attend  with  Dr. 
Smith  a  three-days  meeting  at  Briery  Church,  in  Prince 
Edward  county,  a  hundred  miles  distant.  Their  stay 
was  protracted  to  a  fortnight,  and  when  they  returned 
it  was  to  communicate  in  the  region  of  Augusta  and 
the  neighboring  counties  the  spirit  that  had  been  al- 
ready kindled  in  their  own  bosoms.  Its  influence  was 
felt  through  Eockbridge  county.  Nash  Legrand  threw 
his  soul,  with  all  its  ardor,  into  the  work.  A  revival 
commenced  in  the  Valley,  and  extended  as  far  as  Au- 
gusta.   Several  of  the  young  men  who  had  been  intend- 

1  Davidson's  Kentucky,  p.  43 ;   Pres.  Quar.  Review,  vol.  ii.  42-49. 


THE    CAROLINAS,    17S9-1800.  355 

ing  to  Btudy  for  the  bar  were  converted,  and  turned 
their  attention  to  the  ministry.  Mr.  Graham  willingly 
consented  to  superintend  their  theological  studies. 

The  result  was  that,  under  the  patronage  of  the 
Synod  of  Virginia,  a  theological  department  was  now 
added  to  Liberty  Hall.  In  January,  1794,  a  building 
erected  for  the  purpose  was  opened  for  the  reception 
of  students.  It  was  the  first  theological  school  in  con- 
nection with  a  college  in  America.  But  Mr.  Graham's 
resignation,  in  1796,  gave  it  a  serious,  if  not  fatal,  blow. 
The  cause  of  theological  education  was  reserved  for 
future  and  more  successful  efforts. 


CHAPTER  XVII. 

THE    CAROLINAS,    1789-1800. 


When,  in  May,  1788,  the  Synod  of  New  York  and 
Philadelphia  determined  to  constitute  a  General  As- 
sembly of  the  Presbyterian  Church  in  the  United  States, 
it  was  necessary,  as  a  preliminary  step,  that  some  new 
Synods  should  first  be  set  off;  and  of  these  the  Synod 
of  the  Carolinas  was  one.  The  Presbyteries  which 
united  to  form  the  Synod  had  all  grown  out  of  the  old 
Orange  Presbytery.  They  were  now  known  as  the 
Presbyteries  of  Orange,  South  Carolina,  and  Abingdon. 

The  Orange  Presbytery  consisted  of  ten  members, 
with  about  three  times  as  many  churches.  The  min- 
isters were  Patillo,  Caldwell,  McCorkle,  Hall,  whose 
names  are  already  familiar  to  us,  and  Robert  Archibald, 
James  McRee,  Jacob  Lake,  Daniel  Thatcher,  David 
Barr,  and  John  Beck.  In  the  Presbytery  of  South 
Carolina,  besides  Joseph  Alexander  and  Thomas  Reese, 


3o6  HISTORY   OP   PRESBYTERIANlSM. 

already  mentioned,  there  were  James  Edmonds,  John 
Harris,  John  Simpson,  Thomas  H.  McCaule,  James 
Templeton,  Francis  Cummins,  Robert  Finley,  Robert 
Hall,  and  Robert  Mechlin.  The  Abington  Presbytery 
consisted  of  Charles  Cummings,  Hezekiah  Balch,  John 
Cossan,  Samuel  Houston,  Samuel  Carrick,  and  James 
Balch.  The  ministers  of  the  entire  Synod  numbered 
twenty-eight. 

These  occupied  a  territory  in  which,  forty  years  pre- 
vious, there  was  to  be  found  but  a  single  Presbyterian 
minister.  Quite  a  number  of  them  had  passed  through 
the  scenes  of  the  Revolutionary  conflict,  and  remained, 
as  far  as  possible,  faithful  to  their  parochial  duties. 
Amid  civil  discord  and  scenes  of  strife  and  battle,  they 
had  seen  their  congregations  scattered,  and  the  seeds 
of  military  vice  and  license  spring  up  to  a  large  har- 
vest. But  a  better  day  had  now  dawned.  Peace  had 
returned.  The  congregations  were  again  gathered, 
and  new  churches  were  rapidly  organized.  The  Pres- 
bytery had  grown  to  a  Synod.  The  few  missionary 
stations  had  multiplied  to  more  than  a  hundred, — some 
of  them  flourishing  churches.  A  broad  field  to  the 
South  and  West  invited  to  yet  more  abundant  labors, 
and  among  the  ministers  of  the  Synod  there  were  not 
a  few  that  were  equal,  as  far  as  human  strength  will 
allow,  to  the  demands  of  the  emergency. 

The  newly  constituted  Synod  met  at  Centre  Church, 
November  5,  1788.  In  the  course  of  the  two  following 
years,  the  Presbytery  of  South  Carolina  had  increased 
its  number  of  members  by  the  reception  of  Robert 
McCulloch,  William  C.  Davis,  John  Springer,  and 
Samuel  Houston.  The  names  of  David  Kerr,  from  the 
Presbytery  of  Templepatrick  in  Ireland,  and  of  William 
Moore,  from  Hanover,  were  added  to  the  list  of  members 
of  the  Orange  Presbytery.  One  of  the  first  measures 
of  the  Synod  was  action  on  an  overture  for  the  publica- 


THE   CAUOIJNAS,  1789-1S00.  357 

tiori  of  Doddridge's  "Rise  and   Progress  of  Religion* 

and  his  ten  sermons  on  Regeneration.  Its  members 
fell  the  necessity  of  enlisting  the  press  as  an  ally  in 
their  work. 

A  policy  more  important  in  its  results  was  initiated 
in  1791.  At  its  meeting  in  October  of  this  year,  the 
Synod  took  up  the  subject  of  Domestic  .Missions,  and 
resolved  to  send  out  four  missionaries  to  act  in  the 
destitute  regions  each  side  of  the  Alleghanies.  A  com- 
mission  of  Synod,  to  act  during  its  recess,  was  to  give 
them  their  directions;  and  their  annual  support  was 
fixed  at  two  hundred  dollars.  The  first  missionaries 
appointed  for  the  service  were  James  Templeton  and 
Robert  Hall,  of  South  Carolina  Presbj'tery,  and  Robert 
Archibald  and  John  Bowman,  of  the  Presbytery  of 
Orange.  The  two  first  were  to  labor,  each  for  four 
months,  in  the  lower  parts  of  South  Carolina  and  in 
Georgia;  the  two  last  for  three  months  each,  in  the 
lower  parts  of  North  Carolina.  The  most  important 
rule  which  was  given  them  was,  "not  to  tarry  longer 
than  three  weeks  at  the  same  time  in  the  bounds  of 
twenty  miles,  except  peculiar  circumstances  may  ap- 
pear to  make  it  necessary." 

In  1792,  the  Presbytery  of  Orange  reported  three 
new  members  added  by  ordination,  William  Hodge, 
James  Wallis,  and  Samuel  C.  Caldwell.  To  the  first  of 
these,  reference  has  been  already  made.  Wallis  was 
born  at  Sugar  Creek,  educated  at  Liberty  Hall,  and  a 
student  for  a  time  under  Dr.  Barr,  at  Winnsborough, 
S.C.  His  life  was  spent  in  the  service  of  the  Provi- 
dence Church,  and  in  the  fierce  contest  with  infidelity 
which  prevailed  around  him  soon  alter  his  ordination 
he  bore  a  conspicuous  part.  Clear,  strong,  ardent,  by 
some  more  dreaded  than  loved,  he  was  unfaltering 
and  unwearied  in  his  course,  and.  while  carrying  his 
religious  principles  into  his  political  creed,  he  asserted 


358  HISTORY   OF   PRESBYTERIANISM. 

the  unlimited  eontrol  of  the  word  of  God  in  all  matters 
pertaining  to  conscience.  Condensing  the  arguments 
of  Watson,  Paley,  and  Leslie  into  a  small  pamphlet, 
he  sent  them  forth  to  stay  the  prevalent  tide  of  error 
that  was  desolating  the  community. 

Samuel  C.  Caldwell  was  a  native  of  Guilford,  a  grand- 
eon  of  Rev.  Alexander  Craighead,  already  mentioned 
as  a  pioneer  in  this  field.  At  the  early  age  of  nine- 
teen, he  was  licensed  by  the  Presbytery  of  Orange 
to  preach  the  gospel,  and  in  1792  was  ordained  pastor 
of  Sugar  Creek  and  Hopewell  Churches.  A  revival 
followed  almost  immediately  upon  his  settlement,  and 
more  than  seventy  young  converts  were  united  with 
the  Church  on  a  single  sacramental  occasion. 

Modest,  mild,  and  gentle  in  his  whole  demeanor, 
none  could  make  a  greater  mistake  than  to  suppose 
him  pliant  in  principle.  Clear  in  thought  and  utter- 
ance, plain  and  direct  in  speech,  and  never  losing  his 
self-command,  he  was  a  man  to  be  respected  as  well  as 
loved,  and  the  kindness  of  his  nature  made  his  influence 
in  behalf  of  the  truth  more  decidedly  felt.  Not  less 
effectively  than  Wallis  did  he  act  as  the  champion  of 
revelation  at  a  period  when  his  namesake,  Joseph 
(afterward  President)  Caldwell  (1797),  said,  "Religion 
is  so  little  in  vogue,  and  in  such  a  state  of  depression, 
that  *  *  *  every  one  believes  that  the  first  step  he 
ought  to  take  to  rise  into  respectability  is  to  disavow, 
as  often  and  as  publicly  as  he  can,  all  regard  for  the 
leading  doctrines  of  the  Scriptures." 

In  1793,  Rev.  Humphrey  Hunter  and  Robert  M. 
Cunningham  were  reported  from  the  Presbytery  of 
South  Carolina  as  new  members,  and  Lewis  Feuille- 
teau  Wilson,  James  McGready,  Joseph  Kilpatrick, 
Alexander  Caldwell,  and  Angus  McDermiad  from  the 
Presbytery  of  Orange.  Some  of  these  men  are  worthy 
of  special  mention. 


THE    CAROLINAS,  1789-1800.  359 

The  most  noted  among  them  all,  at  an  after-period, 
was  the  Rev.  James  MLcGready,  who  already  for  some 
years  had  been  laboring  within  the  bounds  of  Orange 
Presbytery.  In  the  subsequent  revival  of  1800,  in 
Kentucky,  he  was  the  Leading  spirit.  He  was  of  Scotch- 
Irish  descent,  a  native  of  Pennsylvania.  At  an  early 
age  his  father  removed  with  his  family  to  Guilford 
county,  N.C.,  within  the  bounds  of  the  Buffalo  congre- 
gation. From  his  earliest  years  young  McGready  was 
remarkable  for  sedateness  and  conscientious  regard  to 
his  religious  duties.  An  uncle  of  his  conceived  the  idea 
of  securing  him  an  education  for  the  ministry.  There 
was  no  doubt,  in  the  mind  either  of  uncle  or  nephew, 
of  the  piety  of  the  latter.  The  young  man,  exemplary 
in  all  his  deportment,  at  the  age  of  seventeen  united 
with  the  Church.  At  a  somewhat  later  period,  a 
remark  which  he  overheard  from  the  lips  of  another,  in 
which  a  doubt  of  his  piety  was  expressed,  first  exas- 
perated him,  and  then  led  him  to  serious  self-examina- 
tion. The  result  was  the  abandonment  of  his  old  hope. 
He  at  length,  after  a  self-exposure  which  taught  him 
to  lay  open  the  hiding-places  of  the  hypocrite  and  the 
self-deceived,  found  peace  in  Christ. 

His  literary  and  theological  course  was  pursued 
under  the  direction  of  Dr.  McMillan,  and  he  was  licensed 
by  Redstone  Presbytery.  On  his  return  to  Carolina, 
in  1788,  he  passed  through  the  scenes  of  revival  which 
then  prevailed  in  that  region,  making  some  stay  on  his 
way  at  Hampden-Sidney  College.  His  own  heart  was 
kindled  to  new  zeal,  and  he  resumed  his  journey  pre- 
pared to  speak  with  a  fervor  and  boldness  that  had 
rarely  been  equalled  in  that  region  or  period.  At  the 
time  when  he  entered  upon  his  labors,  the  evils  which 
had  resulted  from  the  war  or  had  been  fostered  by  ita 
feuds  and  license  had  attained  their  height.  Within 
the  sacred  enclosure  of  the  Church  a  fearful  conformity 


3G0  niSTORY   OF    PRESBYTERIANISM. 

to  the  world  prevailed.  Dancing,  horse-racing,  intem- 
perance, and  kindred  mischief  had  become  fashionable 
amusements;  while  they  all  found  sufficient  sanction  in 
the  popular  infidelity  which  for  some  years  past  had 
been  boldly  advancing  its  claims. 

McGready  was  not  a  man  to  regard  these  things 
with  complacency  or  in  silence.1  He  set  himself  fear- 
lessly and  promptly  to  stem  the  tide.  His  congrega- 
tions were  those  of  Haw  Eiver  and  Stone  Creek;  but 
his  preaching  was  by  no  means  limited  to  these.  He 
visited  the  surrounding  region,  and  left  on  many  minds 
deep  and  abiding  impressions.  Solemn,  earnest,  direct, 
overwhelming  in  his  appeals,  and  pungent  in  his  deal- 
ing with  the  conscience,  he  was  a  man  toward  whom 
none  could  assume  an  attitude  of  indifference.  They 
were  either  his  warm  friends  or  his  bitter  opponents. 
Whatever  he  said  or  did  was  with  a  practical  object 
in  view,  to  alarm  the  secure  or  convict  the  careless. 
Repeatedly  were  his  visits  to  the  neighboring  congre- 
gations blessed.  Revivals  commenced  in  different 
places,  and  the  tide  of  overflowing  iniquity  was  ar- 
rested. 

But  the  bold  and  almost  defiant  tone  of  McGready 
made  him  many  enemies,  and,  after  several  years,  he 
was  constrained  to  remove  to  another  field.  That 
field  proved  to  be  one  beyond  the  mountains,  in  Logan 
county,  Kentucky. 

Another  of  the  new  members  of  Synod,  to  whom  we 
have  referred  as  joining  it  at  this  period,  was  Lewis 
Feuilleteau  Wilson.  He  was  born  at  St.  Christopher's, 
in  the  West  Indies,  and  was  the  son  of  a  wealthy 
planter.  He  was  sent  to  England  to  be  educated,  but  at 
the  age  of  seventeen  migrated  with  his  uncle  to  New 
Jersey,  and  soon   after  his  arrival  became  a  member 

1  Davidson's  Kentucky,  p.  132  ;    Foote's  North  Carolina. 


1  HE    CAROLINAS,    1789-1800.  36l 

of  Princeton  College.  While  in  college,  a  revival  oc- 
curred, of  which  he  was  a  subject,  and  his  attention 
was  directed  to  the  ministry  (1773).  He  at  first  pro- 
posed to  take  orders  in  the  Established  Church  of 
England;  but,  dissatisfied  with  its  condition,  he  turned 
his  thoughts  to  the  medical  profession. 

For  some  time  he  was  settled  as  a  practising  physi- 
cian at  Princeton,  N.J.;  but  through  the  influence 
of  James  Hall,  of  North  Carolina,  with  whom  he 
had  become  intimately  acquainted  during  his  college 
course,  and  to  whom  he  was  ever  after  strongly  at- 
tached, he  was  induced  to  remove  to  Iredell  county, 
N.C.,  the  scene  of  Mr.  Hall's  labors.  Here  his  excellent 
qualifications  for  the  ministry  soon  attracted  atten- 
tion, and  the  good  people  around  him  became  urgent 
that  he  should  change  his  profession.  His  intimate 
and  influential  friend  Mr.  Hall  seconded  the  sugges- 
tion. After  due  deliberation,  he  concluded  to  yield  to 
the  advice,  and  was  licensed  by  the  Presbytery  of 
Orange  in  1791. 

His  pulpit-efforts  were  received  with  marked  appro- 
bation, and  several  congregations  at  the  same  time 
sought  to  secure  his  services.  He  ultimately  accepted 
the  call  of  Fourth  Creek  and  Concord  Churches,  and 
was  installed  in  1793.  In  the  remarkable  revivals 
which  followed  throughout  the  region,  ten  years  later, 
he  bore  a  conspicuous  part. 

Humphrey  Hunter  was  a  native  of  Ireland,  but  at 
an  early  age  emigrated  with  his  widowed  mother  to 
Mecklenburg  county,  N.C.  He  had  scarcely  passed 
his  boyl.ood  when  he  listened  with  patriotic  enthu- 
siasm to  the  proceedings  of  the  Mecklenburg  Conven- 
tion, and  in  the  years  that  followed,  of  Revolutionary 
strife,  he  bore  an  active  part  in  the  camp  and  on  the 
field  of  battle.  Some  of  the  incidents  of  his  career  are 
of  thrilling  interest.  He  commenced  his  classical  edu- 
Vol.  I.— 31 


3G2  HISTORY    OF    PRESBYTERIANISM. 

cation  at  "  Clio's  Nursery,"  in  Bowan  county,  under 
the  instructions  of  James  Hull.  Dr.  McWhorter  subse- 
quently became  his  teacher.  In  1785,  he  entered  as  a 
student  of  Mount  Zion  College,  at  Winnsborough,  in 
South  Carolina,  and  in  1789  was  licensed  to  preach  by 
the  Presbytery  of  that  name.  He  first  labored  in  con- 
nection with  the  congregations  of  Hopewell  and  Am- 
well,  in  South  Carolina,  subsequently  at  Unity  and 
Goshen,  in  Lincoln  county,  and,  finally,  as  pastor  of 
Steel  Creek  Church.  Earnest,  though  unassuming, 
and  often  eloquent,  with  a  talent  for  refined  sarcasm 
and  a  mind  of  much  originality,  he  was  loved  by  the 
good  and  feared  by  the  evil,  and  in  devotion  to  his 
work  was  surpassed  by  few  of  his  contemporaries. 

The  name  of  (Dr.)  Eobert  M.  Cunningham  is  more 
familiar  to  us  in  connection  with  the  history  of  the 
Presbyterian  Church  of  Kentucky,  in  which  the 
strength  of  his  manhood  was  spent.  He  was  a  native 
of  Pennsylvania,  and  a  graduate  of  Dickinson  College 
(1789).  In  1792,  he  was  licensed  by  the  South  Carolina 
Presbytery,  and  in  the  autumn  of  that  year  went  to 
Georgia  and  organized  a  church  in  that  part  of  Green 
county  now  called  Hancock,  and  ordained  elders  to  a 
church  called  Ebenezer.  In  this  neighborhood  he  set- 
tled, preaching  a  portion  of  the  time  at  the  church  at 
Bethany,  twenty  miles  distant.  Here  he  labored  faith- 
fully us  one  of  the  missionaries  of  the  Synod.  At  the 
same  time,  James  Hall  and  Samuel  C.  Caldwell  were 
employed  in  North  Carolina,  John  Bowman  in  North 
Carolina  and  Tennessee,  and  Bobert  McCulloch  in 
South  Carolina. 

In  1794,  there  appear  on  the  list  of  the  Synod's  mem- 
bers some  names  worthy  of  especial  notice.  Besides 
those  of  William  Williamson  and  Bobert  Wilson,  we 
find  those  of  Moses  Wuddel  und  John  Brown.  Moses 
Wuddel  was  born  on  the  banks  of  the  South  Yadkin,  in 


TIIK   CAROLINAS,    1789-1800.  3G3 

1770.     His  mind  was  remarkably  precocious.     At  the 

age  of  fourteen -he  was  named  by  l>r.  Hall  as  the  fittest 
linguist  educated  at  "  Clio's  Nursery"  for  a  vacant  tutor- 
ship in  Camden  Academy.  For  some  years  he  taught 
in  the  neighborhood  of  Bethany,  Ga.,  and  afterward 
in  South  Carolina.  He  was  graduated  at  Hampden- 
Sidney  in  1791,  and  licensed  by  Hanover  Presbytery 
in  the  following  year.  For  the  greater  part  of  his 
life  he  was  engaged  in  teaching:  and  under  his  instruc- 
tions  some  of  the  most  eminent  civilians  and  clergy- 
men of  the  South  received  their  education.  Among 
these  may  be  mentioned  John  C.  Calhoun,  William  II. 
Crawford,  McDuffie,  Legare,  Pettigru,  Butler,  Long- 
street,  Carey,  &c.  In  1819,1  he  was  elevated  to  the 
post  of  President  of  the  University  of  Georgia,  which 
he  continued  to  occupy  for  ten  years.  Few  men, 
through  their  pupils,  have  wielded  a  more  extensive  in- 
fluence over  the  country.  Yet,  while  mainly  employed 
as  a  teacher,  he  did  not  withdraw  from  the  pulpit. 
Almost  to  the  close  of  his  life  there  wras  scarcely 
a  Sabbath  when  he  was  not  engaged  in  the  duties 
of  the  ministry.  A  severe  student,  a  high-minded, 
honorable  Christian  man,  unremitting  in  his  devotion 
to  the  cause  of  learning  and  religion,  the  Presbyterian 
Church  has  abundant  reason  to  honor  his  memory. 

John  Brown  wras  a  native  of  Ireland,  and  while  yet 
a  child  migrated  with  his  father  to  Chester  district, 
S.C.  In  the  scenes  of  the  Revolutionary  conflict  he 
was  an  active  participant,  sharing  with  his  countrymen 
generally  their  sympathies  for  his  adopted  country. 

He  studied  theology  under  Dr.  McCorkle,  near  Salis- 
bury, N.C.,  and  was  licensed  to  preach  in  1788.  For 
ten  years  he  labored  in  the  pastorate  of  the  Waxhaw 

1  He  was  pastor  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  at  Wilmington,  S.C, 
frum  which  he  was  called  to  the  Presidency  of  Georgia  University. 


364  HISTORY    OF    PRESBYTERIANISM 

church  of  South  Carolina,  and,  while  pojular  in  the 
pulpit,  rose  to  high  literary  distinction.  In  1809,  he 
was  elected  to  a  professorship  in  the  University  of 
South  Carolina,  and  two  years  subsequently  he  was 
chosen  President  of  the  University  of  Georgia.  Many 
of  the  citizens  of  these  and  of  the  adjoining  States 
will  long  remember  him  with  gratitude. 

In  1795,  the  Synod  was  still  further  strengthened  by 
the  accession  of  new  members.  These  were  John 
Robinson,  James  Bowman,  John  M.  Wilson,  and  John 
Carrigan,  from  the  Presbytery  of  Orange,  and  Robert 
B.  Walker,  William  Montgomery,  and  David  Dunlap, 
from  the  Presbytery  of  South  Carolina. 

Robinson  was  the  father  of  the  Presbyterian  Church 
in  Fayetteville.  A  native  of  Mecklenburg  county,  he 
pursued  his  studies  at  Winnsborough,  S.C.,  and  was 
licensed  by  the  Presbytery  of  Orange  in  1793.  Bene- 
volent, humble,  consistently  and  devotedly  pious,  he 
was  firm  in  purpose,  and  possessed  of  an  intrepidity 
that  would  quail  before  no  danger.  Striking  anecdotes 
are  told  of  his  fearless  courage.  For  more  than  forty 
years,  as  a  missionary,  as  a  teacher,  and  as  pastor 
alternately  at  Fayetteville  and  Poplar  Tent,  his  labors 
were  abundant  and  largely  blessed. 

John  Makemie  Wilson,  like  Robinson,  was  a  native 
of  Mecklenburg  county,  and  but  one  year  his  junior. 
At  the  age  of  twenty-two  he  was  graduated  at 
Hampden-Sidney  with  the  highest  honors,  and  then 
commenced  the  study  of  theology  under  Dr.  James 
Hall.  In  1793,  he  was  licensed  by  the  Presbytery  of 
Orange,  and  sent  out  on  a  missionary  tour  through  the 
lower  counties  of  the  State.  For  several  years  he  re- 
sided and  labored  in  Burke  county,  until,  in  1801,  he 
accepted  a  call  from  the  congregations  of  Rocky  River 
and  Philadelphia      Many  new  churches  had  been  gath- 


TIIK    CAR0LINA8,    1789-1800.  3G5 

ercd  by  his  efforts,  and  those  which  before  were  weak 
hud  been  strengthened. 

His  labors  as  a  teacher  were  popular  and  successful. 
In  1812  he  opened  a  classical  school,  which  he  con- 
tinued twelve  years.  Fifteen  young  men  from  Rocky 
River  congregation  entered  the  ministry  in  about  as 
many  years,  and  twenty-five  of  his  pupils  became  cler- 
gymen. 

The  Presbytery  of  Orange  had  now  become  bo  large 
and  extended  that  a  division  of  it  seemed  advisable. 
Accordingly,  in  1795,  the  Presbytery  of  Concord  was 
set  off  from  it.  Of  this  new  body,  McCorkle,  Hall, 
McKee,  Barr,  S.  C.  Caldwell,  Wallis,  Kilpatrick,  L.  F. 
"Wilson,  A.  Caldwell,  J.  M.  Wilson,  and  Carrigan,  were 
members.  In  the  following  year  the  Presbytery  of 
South  Carolina  was  also  divided.  The  members  living 
west  of  the  Savannah  River,  John  Newton,  John 
Springer,  Robert  M.  Cunningham,  Moses  Waddel,  and 
William  Montgomery,  constituted  the  new  Presbytery 
of  Hopewell.  The  Presbytery  of  South  Carolina  re- 
ported, as  new  members,  John  Foster,  George  G.  Mc- 
Whorter,  John  B.  Kennedy,  Samuel  W.  Yongue,  and 
James  Gilliland,  the  last  of  strong  and  decided  anti- 
slavery  sentiments,  and  on  this  account,  a  few  years 
later,  leaving  for  a  Northern  field.  His  name  occurs 
again  in  connection  with  the  history  of  the  Presbyte- 
rian Church  in  Ohio.1 

At  its  meeting  in  November,  1796,  the  Synod  wras 
largely  engaged  in  the  consideration  of  questions  per- 
taining to  slavery.  While  an  order  was  passed  enjoin- 
ing upon  heads  of  families  the  religious  instruction  of 
slaves  and  teaching  them  to  read  the  Bible,  it  was  also 
decided  to  be  inexpedient  "to  admit  baptized  slaves  as 

1  Settled  at  Red  Oak,  Ohio,  a  few  miles  from  Ripley,  and  a  mem- 
ber of  that  Presbytery  duriug  the  last  years  of  his  life. 

31* 


366  HISTORY    OF    PRESBYTERIANISM. 

witnesses  in  ecclesiastical  judicatories,  where  others 
cannot  be  had."  The  case  of  James  Gilliland  was  also 
brought  to  the  attention  of  Synod.  The  Presbytery 
of  South  Carolina,  of  which  he  was  a  member,  had  en- 
joined upon  him  to  be  silent  in  the  pulpit  on  the  sub- 
ject of  the  emancipation  of  slaves.  This  injunction  he 
declared  to  be,  in  his  apprehension,  contrary  to  the 
counsel  of  God.  The  Synod  took  up  his  memorial  for 
deliberation,  and  endorsed  the  action  of  the  Presbytery, 
advising  him  to  be  content  with  using  his  utmost  efforts 
in  private  to  open  the  way  for  emancipation.  It  was 
of  opinion  that  "  to  preach  publicly  against  slavery,  in 
present  circumstances,  and  to  lay  it  down  as  the  duty 
of  every  one  to  liberate  those  who  are  under  their  care, 
is  that  which  would  lead  to  disorder  and  open  the  way 
to  great  confusion." 

During  the  two  following  years  the  Synod  was 
strengthened  by  the  accession  of  several  new  mem- 
bers. George  Newton  and  Samuel  Davis  had  been 
ordained  by  the  South  Carolina  Preshytea*y,  and  the 
erratic  but  eloquent  William  C.  Davis  had  united  with 
that  body.  The  Orange  Presbytery  had  added  to  its 
list  of  members  the  names  of  William  T.  Thompson, 
William  Paisley,  John  Gillespie,  Samuel  McAdow,  and 
Robert  Tate. 

It  was  under  Paisley,  the  successor  of  William  Hodge 
in  the  pastorate  of  Hawfields,  that  the  great  revival  of 
1802  commenced.  For  twenty  years  he  was  a  success- 
ful laborer  in  this  field.  Tate  occupied  the  sphere  once 
filled  by  McAden,  and  under  his  ministry  "  Rockfish, 
Keith,  and  Hopewell  sprang  up,  and  opened  the  doors 
of  the  sanctuary  to  a  large  region  of  country."  Black 
River  congregation  was  long  a  sharer  in  his  ministerial 
labors. 

The  Synod  now  (1800)  embraced  seven  Presbyteries. 
In  1797,  the  Presbytery  of  Abington,  west  of  the  moun- 


THE    CAROLINAS,    1780-1800.  367 

tains,  had  been  divided,  and  the  new  Presbytery  of 
Union  formed.  The  Last  consisted  of  but  four  mem- 
bers. That  of  Orange  numbered  fourteen,  with  four 
licentiates  and  eight  candidates;  that  of  Concord,  fif- 
teen ministers  and  one  candidate.  The  Presbytery  of 
South  Carolina  was  most  numerous,  comprising  eigh- 
teen ministers,  three  licentiates,  and  two  candidates. 
Tn  17iH>,  it  was  divided  by  the  Synod,  and  out  of  it  the 
First  and  Second  Presbyteries  of  South  Carolina  were 
constituted.  Broad  River  was  made  the  dividing  line. 
West  of  the  mountains,  in  East  Tennessee,  the  new 
Presbytery  of  Greenville  was  erected  in  1800.  The 
ministers  composing  it  were  George  Newton,  Samuel 
Davis,  Hezekiah  Balch,  and  John  Cossan.  Thus  the 
Synod  had  increased,  in  the  course  of  fifteen  years, 
from  the  three  original  Presbyteries  constituted  of  the 
members  of  the  Presbytery  of  Orange,  till  it  numbered 
seven.  From  the  field  occupied  a  half-century  before 
by  a  single  Presbyterian  missionary,  the  bounds  of  the 
Church  had  been  extended  till  they  included  the  whole 
or  portions  of  several  States.  In  1788,  the  Synod  num- 
bered twenty-eight  ministers;  in  1800,  they  had  in- 
creased to  nearly  seventy, — considerably  more  than 
doubling  in  the  course  of  thirteen  years. 

During  nearly  this  whole  period  the  missionary  work 
of  the  Synod  had  been  prosecuted  with  a  good  degree 
of  energy.  One  of  its  original  Presbyteries  was  beyond 
the  mountains  in  East  Tennessee,  and  it  had  already 
extended  its  field  of  effort  till  two  new  Presbyteries 
were  formed  out  of  it.  Throughout  the  destitute  por- 
tions of  North  and  South  Carolina,  m  the  northern 
part  of  Georgia,  and  in  the  Mississippi  Valley.,  mission- 
aries hearing  the  Synod's  commission  were  to  he  found. 
The  leading  members  of  the  body  did  not  themselves 
shrink  from  the  Belf-denying  duty  of  itinerant  labor. 
Their  names   are  repeatedly  found  on  the  list  of  those 


308  HISTORY    OF    ritESBYTERTANISM. 

appointed  both  to  near  and  to  distant  fields.  From 
1794  to  1800,  we  find  James  Hall,  S.  C.  Caldwell,  John 
and  James  H.  Bowman,  Eobert  McCulloch,  Bobert  Cun- 
ningham, John  M.  and  Kobert  Wilson,  John  Eobinson, 
and  others,  engaged  in  this  arduous  service.  It  was 
thus  that  the  bounds  of  the  Church  were  extended,  and 
the  reports  of  the  missionaries  reacted  upon  the  Synod 
to  encourage  them  to  new  effort.  In  some  cases  these 
annual  reports  were  so  extended  as  to  cover  sixteen 
folio  pages. 


CHAPTEE  XVIII. 


At  the  time  of  the  organization  of  the  first  General 
Assembly,  the  Presbyterian  congregations  in  the  State 
of  New  York  numbered  less  than  forty :  of  these, 
eleven  were  on  Long  Island,  in  connection  with  the 
Presbytery  of  Suffolk  j  nine  were  under  the  care  of  the 
Presbytery  of  Dutchess  County;  and  nineteen  under 
the  care  of  the  Presbytery  of  New  York.  Besides  these, 
Sampson  Occum,  a  member  of  Suffolk  Presbytery,  had 
mission-stations  among  the  Oneida  Indians  at  New 
Stockbridge  and  Brotherton. 

Within  the  bounds  of  Suffolk  Presbytery,  the  churches 
of  Jamaica,  Hempstead,  and  Smithtown  were  vacant. 
The  first  of  these  had  been  without  a  pastor  since  the 
dismission  of  Matthias  Burnet  (1785), J  whose  lack  of 
patriotic  zeal  during  the  war  had  saved  his  church-edi- 
fice, but  rendered  him  unacceptable  to  his  parishioners. 
His  successor,  in  1789,  was  George  Faitoute,  whose  min- 

1  Afterward  settled  at  Norwalk,  Conn. 


NEW    FORK,    17-.I    ISOO.  369 

istry  here  covered  more  than  a  quarter  of  a  century 
(  L815).  Smithtown  and  Hempstead  had  for  many  years 
been  supplied  by  Joshua  Hart,  but  after  his  connection 
with  them  ceased  they  were  long  vacant,- — Hempstead 
until  the  settlement  of  William  P.  Kuypers,  June  5, 
1805. *  It  serves  to  show  the  disastrous  influence  of  the 
war,  that  when,  after  its  close,  measures  were  taken 
to  re-gather  the  Sempstead  church,  ten  members  only 
were  present  at  the  communion  administered  by  Burnet 
of  Jamaica.2 

At  East  Eampton  was  Dr.  Samuel  Buell  (1746-1798), 
succeeded  by  Lyman  Beecher  in  1709-1810;  at  Aqua- 
bogue  and  Mattituck  (Southold),  Benjamin  Goldsmith 
(1  7<it-18lO) ;'  at  Huntington,  Nathan  Woodhull  (1785- 
1789),  succeeded  by  William  Schenk  (1793-1817);  at 
Brookhaven  (Setauket),  Noah  Wetmore  (1786-1790), 
succeeded  by  Zechariah  Green ;  at  South  Haven  (or 
Firplace),  David  Eose  (1765-1799);  at  Southampton, 
Joshua  Williams  (1784-1789),  succeeded  by  Herman 
Daggett  (1792-1795)  and  David  S.  Bogart;  at  Bridge- 
hampton,  Aaron  Woolworth  (1787-1821);  and  at  West- 
h  amp  ton.  Thomas  Russell  (1787-1789),  succeeded  by 
Herman  Daggett  (1797-1801). 

Previous  to  1800,  several  other  congregations  had 
been  taken  under  the  care  of  the  Presbytery.  Joseph 
Hazard  was  installed  at  Southold,  June  4, 1797  ;  Daniel 
Hall  at  Sag  Harbor,  where  a  feeble  church  had  long  ex- 
isted, September  21,  1797;  Luther  Gleson,  successor  of 
Joshua  Hart  (1774-1787),  at  Smithtown  and  [slip,  Sep- 
temher  21.  17'.»7;  Nathan  Woodhull.  who  had  been  pre- 
viously settled  at  Huntington,  at  Newtown,  which  was 
soon  after  transferred  from  New  York  t<»  Suffolk  Pres- 
bytery, in  1790.  ami  who  labored  here  for  twenty  years. 

1  Prime's  Long  Island,  p.  288.  -  Ibid.  p.  262. 

3  At  Mattituck  his  labors  did  not  begin  till  1777. 


370  HISTORY    OF    PRESBYTERIANISM. 

Of  these  men,  the  most  memorable,  if  not  the  most 
able,  was  Samuel  Buell.  A  native  of  Coventry,  Conn., 
a  graduate  of  Yale  College  in  1741,  a  friend  of  Brainerd, 
Whitefield,  Bellamy,  and  the  elder  Edwards,  he  held  pre- 
eminent rank  among  the  preaehers  and  theologians  of 
his  day.  In  17-13,  he  was  ordained  an  evangelist,  and 
in  1746  he  aecepted  a  unanimous  call  to  East  Hamp- 
ton, where  he  remained  as  pastor  for  fifty-two  years. 

The  most  striking  characteristics  of  his  preaching 
were  solemnity  and  fervor.  He  had  been  some  time  in 
the  ministry  when  he  made  this  entry  in  his  diary  : — 
"  The  first  time  I  ever  preached  to  an  assembly  where 
tears  of  affection  under  the  word  were  not  to  be  seen." 
Yet,  with  the  zeal  of  a  revivalist,  he  had  neither  the 
rashness  of  Tennentnor  the  fanaticism  of  Davenport. 
His  sermons  were  rich  with  scriptural  instruction, 
and  in  their  delivery  his  hearers  were  made  to  feel 
that  every  word  he  uttered  came  from  his  inmost 
soul.  A  rich  blessing  attended  his  labors.  In  the 
revival  of  1764,  ninety-nine  were  added  to  his  church 
on  a  single  occasion.  Other  marked  seasons  of  re- 
freshing were  enjoyed  by  his  church,  especially  in  1785 
and  1791.  To  extreme  old  age,  with  natural  force 
scarcely  abated,  he  devoted  himself  untiringly  to  his 
work,  regarding  with  Christian  anxiety  not  only  the 
spiritual  welfare  of  his  own  congregation,  but  that  of 
the  neighboring  churches.  On  the  day  that  completed 
his  eightieth  year,  he  rode  fourteen  miles,  preached, 
and  returned  home  in  the  evening.  His  closing  hours 
were  marked  by  the  triumphant  experience  of  the. 
dying  saint. 

Of  medium  stature  and  somewhat  slender  frame,  he 
had  yet  great  physical  vigor  and  elasticity.  His  cheer- 
fulness, vivacity,  inexhaustible  fund  of  anecdote, 
6prightliness,  wit,  and  gentlemanly  manners  made  him 
a  universal  favorite.     When  the  English  forces  occu- 


1789-1800.  371 

pied  Long  Island  in  the  Revolutionary  War,  they  left 
him — bhough  be  Qever  concealed  his  BtrongWhig  sym- 
pathies— unmolested,  or  even  cheerfully  granted  tin- 
favors  he  requested.     Yet   his  wit  was  combined  with 

boldness  in  the  cause  of  truth.  An  English  officer  told 
him  that  lie  had  commanded  some  of  the  farmers  of 
his  congregation  to  appear  at  Southampton,  twelve 
miles  distant,  on  the  next  day,  which  was  the  Sabbath, 
with  their  teams.  "  So  I  have  understood,"  said  the 
doctor;  "but,  as  commander-in-chief  on  that  day,  I 
have  countermanded  your  orders;"  and  in  consequence 
the  project  was  relinquished.  On  one  occasion  he  was 
invited  by  the  officers  to  join  them  on  a  deer-hunt. 
He  was  tardy  in  making  his  appearance,  and  of  one  of 
them,  evidently  impatient,  the  doctor  pleasantly  asked, 
what  portion  of  his  majesty's  troops  he  had  the  honor 
to  command.  "  A  legion  of  devils  direct  from  hell," 
wras  the  reply  of  the  ill-humored  officer.  "  Then  I  pre- 
sume, sir,"  returned  the  doctor,  assuming  an  attitude 
of  profound  respect,  "  I  have  the  honor  of  addressing 
Beelzebub,  the  prince  of  the  devils."1 

His  influence  over  his  people  w^as  almost  unlimited. 
They  regarded  him  with  the  utmost  love,  respect,  and 
reverence.  A  young  British  officer,  recently  arrived  in 
the  neighborhood,  rode  to  his  door,  and  said,  "  I  wish 
to  see  Mr.  Buell."  The  doctor  soon  appeared.  "Are 
you  Mr.  Buell  ?"  was  the  question.  "  My  name  is  Buell, 
sir."  "Then,"  said  the  officer,  bowing  with  great  re- 
spect, "  I  have  seen  the  god  of  East  Hampton."  For 
many  years  Dr.  Buell  was  the  patriarch  of  the  Presby- 
tery. His  remarkable  self-control,  quick  perception, 
clear  judgment,  unquestioned  piety,  and  devout  prayer- 
fulness  gave  him  great  influence.  In  his  large,  neat, 
white  wig,  with  his  dignified  mien  and  serene  aspect, 

1  Sprague,  iii.  109;  Prime's  Long  Island,  179. 


372  HISTORY    OF    PRESBYTERIANISM. 

on  which  the  lines  of  firmness,  decision,  and  fearless, 
ness  were  distinctly  traced,  he  looked — as  he  was — the 
saintly  Puritan.  Such  was  the  man  of  whom  President 
Stiles  once  remarked,  "This  man  has  done  more  good 
than  any  other  man  that  has  ever  stood  on  this  conti- 
nent." 

Benjamin  (xoldsmith  was  a  fit  compeer  of  Dr.  Buell. 
He  was  a  man  of  sound  mind  and  solid  acquirements, 
plain  and  unostentatious  in  his  manners,  diffident  of 
his  powers,  but  of  unfeigned  piety.  As  a  theologian 
he  was  well  read.  Edwards,  Bellamy,  and  Hopkins 
were  his  favorite  authors,  and  Henry's  Commentary 
was  his  daily  companion.  His  sermons  were  unusually 
well  conceived,  plain,  scriptural,  and  instructive.  In 
manner  he  was  solemn  and  affectionate.  His  influence 
was  that  of  a  peacemaker,  and  his  labors  tended  to 
promote  the  unity  and  edification  of  the  body  of 
Christ.1 

Aaron  Woolworth,  of  Bridgehampton,  was  a  son-in- 
law  of  Dr.  Buell.  A  native  of  Longmeadow,  Mass.,  a 
graduate  of  Yale  College  in  1784,  and  a  licentiate  of 
the  Eastern  Association  of  Kew  London  county,  he 
commenced  his  labors  at  Bridgehampton  in  1787,  while 
the  church,  subsequently  Presbyterian,  was  yet  Con- 
gregational. Of  small  stature,  mild  but  prepossessing 
countenance,  gentlemanly  manners,  sound  judgment, 
deep  and  active  piety,  he  was  widely  known  as  a 
"  great,  good,  and  useful  man."2  A  more  genial  spirit 
wras  scarcely  to  be  found.  Erudite  as  a  theologian, 
intellectual,  discriminating,  and  argumentative  as  a 
preacher,  though  earnest  in  delivery  and  pungent  and 
powerful  in  application,  he  was  also  eminent  as  a 
pastor,  and  by  all  classes  was  regarded  with  confi- 
dence, affection,  and  respect.     Ever  true  to  his  own 

1  Prime's  Long  Island,  155.  2  Sprague,  iii.  4G9. 


NEW    YORK,    178«J-1S00.  373 

maxim. — Suaviter  in  modo,  fortiter  in  re, — lii.s  example 
enforced  his  precepts;  and  the  epitaph  od  his  grave- 
Btone,  though  written  by  the  hand  of  friendship,  and 
eulogistic  in  its  praise,  Is  said,  by  one  whom  we  must 
pronounce  a  competent  witness.  u>  contain  "not  a 
word  of  fulsome  flattery  or  empty  compliment."1 

Nathan  Woodhull,  a  native  of  Setauket,  and  a  gra- 
duate of  Yale  College  in  1775,  commenced  his  labors  at 
Huntington  in  1785,  and  at  Newtown  in  1790.  Of  fine 
personal  appearance,  gentlemanly  and  winning  man- 
ners, and  great  vivacity  in  conversation,  he  easily  won 
and  retained  a  popularity  fully  justified  by  his  purity 
of  character,  fidelity  in  pastoral  duty,  and  power  in  the 
pulpit.  To  the  last  he  possessed  the  undivided  confi- 
dence ami  affection  of  his  people.8 

Other  members  of  the  Presbytery  are  entitled  to 
honorable  mention.  William  Schenk,  though  not  emi- 
nent as  a  preacher,  yet  dignified  and  excellent  as  a 
man  and  successful  as  a  pastor  f  Herman  Daggett, 
a  native  of  .Massachusetts,  a  firm  Presbyterian,  of 
sterling  talent,  scholarly  attainments,  spotless  charac- 
ter, cheerful  yet  dignified, — a  man  who  was  "  never 
known  to  laugh,"  and  of  whom  one  of  his  brethren  said, 
"  Brother  Daggett  is  just  a  fit  man  to  preach  to  minis- 
ters;" Zechariah  Green,  a  soldier  of  the  Eevolution, 
and  as  such  engaged  in  routing  a  company  of  British 
soldiers  from  the  church  in  which  he  afterward  preached 
for  thirty-four  }^ears,4 — a  man  of  great  natural  vi- 
vacity, fearless,  enterprising,  of  strong  patriotic  feel- 
ing and  great  public  spirit ;  Daniel  Hall,  of  Sag  Harbor, 
converted  from  Universalism,  and  ever  after  a  remark- 
ably affectionate  preacher,  a  son  of  consolation  rather 
than  a  Boanerges ;  and   David  Pose,  of  Southaven,  a 


1  Prime,  201.  ■  Hiker's  Newtown.  238. 

3  Prime,  'loo.  *  Prime,  2l'">. 

Vol.  I.— 32 


374  HISTORY    OP    PRESBYTERIANISM. 

physician   as  well  as  a  preacher,  and  stated  clerk  of 
the  Presbytery. 

A  noble  band  of  men  were  these ;  and  their  liberal 
spirit  and  superiority  to  prejudice  are  testified  by  the 
circumstance  of  their  adhesion  to  the  Presbyterian 
Church  after  it  was  proposed  to  frame  a  Constitution 
and  establish  a  General  Assembly.  Surrounded  by 
Congregational  churches,  several  of  their  own  number 
trained  as  Congregation alists,  with  strong  New  Eng- 
land attachments,  they  felt  little  sympathy  for  any 
policy  which  would  introduce  upon  these  shores  an 
ecclesiasticism  of  a  rigid  Scotch  type;  and  in  conse- 
quence of  this,  as  well  as  in  view  of  their  compara- 
tively isolated  condition,  they  respectfully,  asked,  in 
1787,  of  the  Synod  of  New  York  and  Philadelphia,  a 
dissolution  of  their  union  with  that  body.  The  letter 
presenting  the  request  was  kindly  answered,1  and  a 
committee  of  the  Synod  was  appointed  to  meet  and 
confer  with  the  Presbytery.  This  committee  consisted 
of  Drs.  Eodgers  and  McWhorter,  and  Messrs.  Koe, 
John  "Woodhull,  and  Davenport.  The  Presbytery  were 
urged  to  reconsider  their  resolution  and  remain  in 
union  with  the  Synod.  The  subject  was  discussed 
"  with  the  greatest  freedom,  candor,  and  amity,''  at  a 
meeting  of  Presbytery  held  at  Brookhaven,  April  8, 
1788 ;  and  the  result  was.  that,  after  a  full  conference 
and  satisfactory  explanations  on  both  sides,  the  Pres- 
bytery agreed  to  withdraw  their  request.2 

The  growth  of  the  churches,  though  not  rapid,  was 
steady  and  cheering.  The  war  had  inflicted  upon 
them  serious  injury.  The  membership,  exposed  to  the 
virulence  of  Tory  feeling  allied  with  the  forces  of  the 
enemy,  were  largely  driven  from  their  homes;  and 
some  of  the  pastors  were  forced  to  flee  for  their  lives 

i  Minutes  of  Synod,  532.  2  Ibid.  544. 


NKW    YORK,     1789-1800.  o75 

or  to  escape  imprisonment.     At  Newtown,  public  wor- 
ship was   suspended;  a   few  young  Tories,  by  night, 
sawed  off  the  steeple  of  the  church,  and   the  edifice, 
after  having  been   used  as  a  prison  and  guard-house, 
was  demolished    to  make   huts  for  the   soldiers.1     At 
Huntington,  not  only  were  the  orchards  cut  down,  the 
fences  burned,  and  the  scanty   crops  seized,  but  the 
whole  town  was  given  up  to  depredation.      The  seats 
in  the    church-edifice  were  torn  up  and   the   building 
converted  into  a  military  depot.2     The  bell  was  taken 
away,   and    so    injured    as   to   be    thenceforth    useless. 
The  church-edifice  at  last  was   pulled  down    and   the 
timber  used  for  block-houses;  barracks  were  erected  in 
the  grave-yard,  where  graves  were  levelled  and  tomb- 
stones  used   for   fireplaces    and    ovens.      Long   after, 
there  were   those    who    could   testify  to    having    seen 
loaves  of  bread  drawn  from  these  ovens,  with  the  re- 
versed inscriptions  of  the  tombstones  of  their  friends 
on  the  lower  crust.3      At  Islip,  the  church-edifice  was 
torn  down    by  the  British   soldiery,  and  its  materials 
were  carried  away  for  military  purposes.4     Other  con- 
gregations were  less  harshly  dealt  with,  but  many  of 
them  were  reduced  almost,  if  not  quite,  to  the  verge  of 
extinction  by  the  disastrous  influence  of  the  war.     In 
several  instances  the  membership  had  become  so  re- 
duced as  almost  to  necessitate  a  reorganization. 

But  with  the  return  of  peace  the  pastors  resumed 
their  labors.  The  Presbytery  exerted  itself  to  supply, 
or  provide  for,  its  feeble  and  vacant  churches.  A  more 
hopeful  aspect  of  spiritual  prosperity  cheered  the 
hearts  of  laborers  in  this  field.  Here  and  there  re- 
vivals were  enjoyed,  some  of  them  characterised  by 
great  power,  as  at  East  Hampton   in  17^"),   1791,  and 

»  Riker's  Newtown,  198.  a  Trime,  250. 

3  Prime,  251.  ♦'Ibid.  263. 


376  niSTORY    OF    PRESBYTERIANISM. 

1800,  at  Bridgehampton  in  1799,  and  at  Huntington 
in  1800.  The  membership  of  the  churches  steadily 
increased.  At  the  close  of  the  war,  few  of  them  could 
number  more  than  thirty  members,  and  several  fell 
short  of  this.  Hempstead  had  but  ten,  Bridgehampton 
had  but  eleven,  male  members.  Others  were  almost 
equally  desolate.  But  before  1800,  many  of  them  had 
wellnigh  recovered  their  former  strength,  and  some  of 
them  had  enlarged  their  borders. 

The  Presbyterian  Church  in  the  city  of  New  York 
felt  with  peculiar  severity  the  disasters  of  the  war. 
Its  two  pastors  and  a  large  portion  of  its  members 
had  been  forced  to  flee  for  safety.  The  church-edifices 
had  been  put  to  military  uses.  The  Brick  Church  had 
been  converted  into  a  prison,  and  as  such  had  been 
given  up  to  all  kinds  of  abuse  and  all  manner  of  filth.1 
Of  the  Wall  Street  Church,  the  whole  interior  had 
been  destroyed  during  the  war,  only  the  walls  and 
roof,  or  rather  the  principal  timbers  of  the  roof,  being 
left. 

On  November  26.  1783,  the  day  after  the  evacuation 
by  the  British  troops,  Dr.  Eodgers  returned  to  the  city. 
The  numbers  of  the  church  had  been  greatly  reduced 
by  death  and  by  removals,  and  the  pecuniary  resources 
of  most  had  been  impaired,  and  of  some  exhausted. 
With  a  considerable  debt  which  had  accumulated,  and 
with  both  houses  of  worship  in  ruins,  the  prospect  of 
the  church  was  not  encouraging.  But  in  their  house- 
less condition,  and  until  their  buildings  could  be  re- 
paired, the  vestry  of  Trinity  Church  kindly  invited 
them  to  occupy  alternately  St.  George's  and  St.  Paul's 
Churches,  and  the  energy  of  the  pastor  accomplished 
the  rest.  By  personal  solicitation  he  raised  the  means 
necessary  for  repairing  the  church-edifices,  and  in  the 

1  Life  of  Ethan  Allen. 


NEW    YORK,     Its'.)   1   00.  377 

course  of  six  months  the  Brick  3hurch,  which  had 
hoc n  hast  damaged,  was  ready  for  occupancy.  But  so 
argent  was  the  demand  for  pews  that  it  was  felt  im- 
perative to  expedite  the  repair  of  the  building  in  Wall 
Street.  At  a  cost  of  some  ten  thousand  dollars,  both 
structures  were  so  far  restored  as  to  admit  of  occu- 
pancy; and,  to  secure  a  supply  for  both  pulpits,  James 
Wilson  was  called  in  1785 — after  the  dismission  of  Mr. 
Treat — as  collegiate  pastor  with  Dr.  Eodgers. 

In  1789,  John  .Uc Knight,  of  .Marsh  Creek,  Pa.,  was 
called  to  supply  the  place  of  Mr.  Wilson,  whose  failing 
health  forced  him  to  seek  another  climate.  In  1796,  it 
became  evident  that  another  church  was  needed  to  ac- 
commodate the  increased  Presbyterian  population  of  the 
city,  and  the  Rutgers  Street  Church  was  established. 
The  new  building  was  completed  in  May,  1798,  and  a  call 
was  extended  to  Philip  Milledoler,  of  the  Third  Presby- 
terian Church  of  Philadelphia,  which  he  was  induced 
to  accept,  to  take  charge  of  the  congregation.  The 
three  churches,  however,  continued  united  until  1809. 

Under  the  harmonious  labors  of  the  three  collegiate 
pastors,  the  churches  continued  to  prosper.  The  vene- 
rable character,  sound  judgment,  eminent  ability,  and 
devoted  piety  of  Dr.  Eodgers  commanded  the  respect 
not  only  of  the  members  of  his  congregation,  but  of  the 
whole  community.  Liberal  in  sentiment,  prompt  to 
respond  to  the  calls  of  humanity  and  benevolence,  emi- 
nently disinterested,  animated  and  fervent  in  his  pulpit 
ministrations,  indefatigable  as  a  pastor,  and  judicious 
in  all  his  measures,  his  standing  was  such  that  in  all 
his  relations,  whether  to  his  own  congregation,  to  the 
state,  or  to  the  Church  at  large,  he  exerted  a  powerful 
and  beneficent  influence.  As  the  second  moderator 
of  the  Genera]  Assembly,  the  voice  of  his  co-presbyters 
ranked  him  next  to  the  venerable  Wltherspoonj  and  a 
more  sagacious   and  reliable  counsellor  in   the  emer- 

32* 


378  HISTORY    OF    PRESBYTERIANISM. 

gency  of  the  Church,  when  called  to  revise  and  adopt 
her  permanent  Constitution,  was  not  to  be  found. 

Dr.  Milledoler  was  a  faithful  preacher  and  a  highly 
successful  pastor.  His  labors  with  Rutgers  Street 
closed  in  1813. 

Dr.  McKnight  had  been  laboring  in  the  ministry,  in 
Virginia  and  Pennsylvania,  for  about  fourteen  years, 
when  he  was  called  to  New  York.  His  ministry  here 
continued  for  twenty  years,  and  was  characterized  by 
an  earnest  and  faithful  discharge  of  his  duties  as 
preacher  and  pastor.  With  much  simplicity  of  charac- 
ter, he  was  graceful  and  dignified  in  manner,  free  and 
affable  in  social  intercourse,  and  pleasant  and  instruct- 
ive in  conversation.  Although  by  no  means  a  pulpit 
orator,  he  was  a  lucid  and  logical  writer  and  a  pleasant 
speaker. 

North  of  New  York  City,  quite  a  number  of 
churches,  mostly  in  Westchester  county,  which  had 
been  hitherto  connected  with  the  Synod,  declined  to 
retain  their  connection  with  the  Assembly ;  and  the 
result  was  the  formation  of  an  Associated  Presbytery, 
which,  except  that  it  was  based  upon  the  same  princi- 
ples with  the  Morris  County  Presbytery  and  stood  in 
intimate  relation  with  it,  occupied  an  attitude  of  inde- 
pendence. More  than  a  quarter  of  a  century  elapsed 
before  they  returned  to  their  former  connection.  One 
principle  which  seems  to  have  characterized  their  ec- 
clesiastical platform  was  the  un scriptural  character  of 
appeals  in  Church  courts.1 

The  Presbytery  of  Dutchess  County  had,  in  1789, 
six  members  and  nine  churches.  Solomon  Mead  was 
at  Lower  Salem,  where  his  pastorate  commenced  in 
1752  and  continued  for  nearly  half  a  century  j  Wheeler 
Case  was  at  Charlotte  Precinct,  better  known  as  Plea- 

1  Minutes  of  Assembly,  1789. 


NKW    YORK,    1789-1300. 

Bant  Valley,  and  served  also  for  some  time  a*  supply 
for  Poughkeepsie  ;  Ichabod  Lewis,  for  a  time  col- 
league, and  at  length  (1.769)  successor,  of  John  Smith 
at   ••  While    Plains   and   Singeing,"1   was   at    Philippi; 

Samuel  .Mills,  who,  like  Lewis,  was  a  licentiate  of  the 
Presbytery,  was  at  Fredericksburg;  John  Davenport 
was  at  Bedford;  while  Pound  Ridge,  White  Plains, 
West  Fredericksburg,  and  Providence  were  vacant, 
and  Blackleach  Burritt  was  without  charge. 

In  1795,  Hudson  Presbytery  was  erected,  and  em- 
braced under  its  care  most  of  the  churches  of  Dutchess 
County  Presbytery,  and  those  of  New  York  Presbytery 
lying  on  the  wTest  side  of  the  Hudson.  From  this 
date  the  churches  of  Fredericksburg,  West  Fredericks- 
burg, and  Providence,  previously  under  the  care  of 
Dutchess  County  Presbytery,  disappear  from  the  rolls 
This  Presbytery  had  never  greatly  enlarged  its  original 
strength  or  bounds.  Albany  and  Cherry  Valley  had 
been  transferred  to  the  Presbytery  of  New  York. 
Samuel  Sackett,  of  Hanover,  afterwards  of  Crumpond, 
in  17<)8,  declined  their  jurisdiction;  and,  though  he  is 
said  to  have  sought  a  readmission,  his  name  no  longer 
appears  on  the  list  of  the  Presbytery.  William  Han- 
na  (of  Albany),  of  whom  Bellamy  from  the  first  had 
an  unfavorable  opinion,  and  who  was  one  of  the  early 
members  of  the  Presbytery,  was  suspended  from  the 
ministry  in  the  same  year  that  Sackett  withdrew.2 
The  vacancies  made  by  deaths  or  removals  were  barely 
made  good  by  their  own  licentiates. 

The  members  of  New  York  Presbytery  who  wero 
transferred  to  constitute  the  new  Presbytery  of  Hud- 
son wTere  Nathan  Ker,  pastor  at  Goshen  (1763-1804); 
John  Close,  who  labored  at  New  Windsor  and  New- 
burgh  or  vicinity  (1773-1796);   Jonathan  Freeman,  at 

i  Webster,  G53.  3  Minutes  of  Synod,  378. 


380  HISTORY    OF   PRESBirERIANrSM. 

Hopewell  (1704-1797),  and  at  Newburgh  (1797-1805); 
Andrew  Kin  r,  at  Wallkill  (1777-1815)  j  John  Minor,  at 
Union;1  and  Methuselah  Baldwin,  at  Pleasant  Valley.2 

The  congregation  of  Florida,  long  under  the  pastoral 
care  of  Amzi  Lewis,  and  connected  with  the  Morris 
County  (Independent)  Associated  Presbytery,  came 
under  the  care  of  Hudson  Presbytery  after  his  removal 
to  North  Salem  (1787)  f  and  on  June  13,  1797,  John 
Joline  was  installed  its  pastor,4  in  connection  with 
Warwick.  In  the  following  year,  Josiah  Henderson 
succeeded  to  the  vacancy  occasioned  by  the  resigna- 
tion of  Davenport  at  Bedford  some  time  previous.5 
Meanwhile,  Methuselah  Baldwin  had  been  dismissed 
from  Pleasant  Yalley,  and  shortly  after  commenced 
his  protracted  pastorate  at  Scotchtown.  In  the  re- 
port to  the  Assembly  for  1799,  the  churches  of  Plea- 
sant Yalley,  Franklin,  Newburgh,  New  Windsor,  Beth- 
lehem, Fishkill,  and  Pound  Ridge  are  mentioned  as 
vacant. 

The  growth  of  the  Church  on  the  line  of  the  Hud- 
son was  far  from  rapid.  The  attractions  of  the  West 
drew  away  the  strength  of  its  natural  increase  to  other 
fields.  The  labors  of  the  pastors  were  largely  mis- 
sionary, and  their  own  churches  were  for  the  most 
part  feeble.  Yet  some  of  the  most  faithful  pastors  of 
the  Church,  although  not  specially  distinguished  as 
preachers,  were  to  be  found  in  this  region : — Ker  at 
Goshen, — a  Whig  of  the  Revolution,  a  volunteer  chap- 

1  Somewhat  uncertain. 

2  The  Presbytery  of  Dutchess,  'n  1794  reduced  to  four  ministers, 
report  to  the  Synod  the  death  of  a  member,  April  8,  1793.  The 
name  is  not  given  ;  but  it  was  probably  Mr.  Wheeler  Case ;  and 
Mr.  Baldwin  was  his  successor.  Mr.  Davenport,  of  Bedford,  how- 
ever, died  at  about  the  same  time. 

3  Sprague,  ii.  155.  *  Minutes  of  Assembly,  1798. 
5  Bolton,  i.  22. 


NEW    YORK,    17S9-1S00.  381 

lain  in  the  army,  a  man  of  well-balanced  and  culti- 
vated mind,  enlarged  and  liberal  views,  earnest  piety, 
and  extensive  influence  ;  Freeman  at  Hopewell  and 
Deer  Park,  afterward  of  Bridgeton,  N.J.,  a  large  con- 
tributor to  several  religious  periodicals,  a  respectable 
scholar,  a  faithful  pastor,  and  an  acceptable  preacher, 
possessed  of  a  good  share  of  mental  vigor;  King,  of 
Wallkill,  not  specially  learned  or  eloquent,  but  known 
in  the  Presbytery  as  "  the  peacemaker,"  and  eminently 
successful  in  the  work  of  the  ministry;  Mead,  of  Salem, 
the  patriarch  of  the  body,  on  whose  gravestone  might 
well  be  written,  "Blest  is  the  memory  of  the  just;" 
and,  well  worthy  to  rank  with  them,  the  devoted  and 
liberal  Lewis  and  the  venerable  Davenport. 

Some  portions  of  the  field  embraced  by  the  original 
Albany  Presbytery  had  long  been  settled  when  the 
Presbytery  was  erected.  Albany,  Schenectady,  Johns- 
town, Cherry  Valley,  and  a  few  other  places,  had  an 
ante-Revolutionary  history.  Albany,  as  a  trading-post 
for  the  Dutch,  dates  from  1623,  and  was  known  suc- 
cessively as  Beaverwyk  and  Wilhelmstadt  until  1684, 
when  it  received  its  present  name.  Schenectady  was 
settled  in  about  1661, 1  and  in  1690,  when  it  was  sacked 
by  the  French  and  Indians,  had  a  church  and  sixty- 
three  houses. 

The  Dutch  were  the  first  occupants  of  the  region. 
Even  after  the  colony  had  passed  under  English  juris- 
diction, three  thousand  Palatines  are  said  to  have 
migrated  to  this  country  in  a  body,  some  of  them  set- 
tling in  Schoharie  county  and  parts  adjacent.2  Queen 
Anne  (1702)  offered  lands  to  those  Germans  who  were 
willing  to  settle  on  the  frontiers;  and  large  numbers 
yielded  to  the  inducements  thus  held  out.  But  soon 
afterward  emigration  began  from  Scot  land.  and.  though 

1  New  York  Gazetteer.  3  History  of  Schoharie  County. 


382  HISTORY    OF    PRESBYTERIANISM. 

checked  by  the  troubles  of  the  French  and  Revolu- 
tionary "Wars,  yet  the  names  of  many  of  the  settle- 
ments north  of  Albany  indicate  the  source  from  which 
the  predominant  part  of  the  population  was  drawn. 
Among  these  we  find  Galway,  New  Scotland,  and 
Breadalbane,  as  well  as  those  which  were  derived  from 
the  names  of  the  leading  settlers. 

The  patent  which  included  the  town  of  Cherry 
Yalley  was  granted  in  1738.  The  name  of  the  place, 
from  the  principal  patentee  and  first  settler,  was 
Lindesay's  Bush.  In  1740,  Samuel  Dunlop  accepted 
an  invitation  from  the  proprietor  to  procure  a  body 
of  colonists,  of  whom  he  was  to  take  the  pastoral 
charge.  A  large  portion  of  these,  through  his  influ- 
ence, were  induced  to  emigrate  from  Londonderry, 
New  Hampshire,  whither  they  had  first  removed  from 
the  north  of  Ireland  and  Scotland.1  Here,  on  the  bor- 
ders of  civilization,  and  constantly  exposed  to  Indian 
invasion,  the  pastor  and  his  flock  retained  their  mutual 
relations  uninterrupted  for  more  than  thirty-five  years. 
In  1763,  the  church  was  taken  under  the  care  of  the 
newly-erected  Presbytery  of  Dutchess  County,  of  which 
Mr.  Dunlop  became  a  member.  Its  relations  were  sub- 
sequently transferred  to  the  Presbytery  of  New  York. 

The  quiet  history  of  this  little  church  was  at  length 
interrupted  by  one  of  the  most  fearful  tragedies  of  In- 
dian warfare.  On  November  11,  1778,  the  place  was 
attacked  by  the  barbarous  foe,  thirty  or  forty  persons 
were  murdered,  others  were  retained  as  hostages  or 
prisoners,  and  the  houses  of  the  settlement  were  burned. 
With  the  close  of  the  war,  the  scattered  inhabitants  who 
survived  returned  to  the  scene  of  desolation.  Their 
aged  pastor  was  no  more.  The  fate  of  his  family  in- 
volved his  own.     But,  true  to  their  early  vows,  they 

1  History  of  Londonderry,  p.  195. 


NEW    YORK,    1789-1800.  383 

Again  gathered  for  the  ordinances  of  worship,  and  in- 
viti'<l.  in  their  feebleness,  the  compassion  of  the  mis- 
sionaries 8cnt  out  by  the  Synod.1  In  1788,  they  applied 
for  supplies  to  New  York  Presbytery. 

Johnstown,  deriving  its  name  from  Sir  William  John- 
son, was  included,  together  wdth  Kingsborough,  in  the 
original  Kingsborough  patent,  granted  June,  1753.  In 
17G1,  Sir  William  removed  to  the  mansion  still  known 
as  Johnson  Hall,  yet  standing  near  the  village.2  The 
tenants  upon  his  lands  were  numerous,  and  were 
strongly  attached  to  him.  For  their  accommodation 
he  erected  a  church-edifice  (1763),  in  place  of  which  a 
larger  one  was  built  in  1767,  in  which  he  allowed  min- 
isters of  all  denominations  to  officiate.  The  Episcopa- 
lian and  the  Presbyterian  met  here  upon  equal  terms, 
and  the  policy  of  the  proprietor  was  simply  to  gratify 
the  tastes  or  prejudices  of  his  tenants.  The  approach 
of  the  Revolutionary  conflict  forced  upon  Sir  William 
the  alternative  of  loyalty  to  his  native  or  his  adopted 
country ;  but,  while  he  hesitated  in  trembling  anxiety, 
death  relieved  him  of  the  stern  necessity  of  a  decision 
in  either  case  critical  to  his  fame  and  fortune.  His 
heir  sided  with  the  mother-country;  his  estates  were 
confiscated,  and  at  the  close  of  the  war  the  State  Legis- 
lature granted  the  church-edifice  to  the  Presbyterians, 
reserving,  however,  to  the  Lutherans  and  Episcopalians 
their  proportionate  right  to  its  use  in  case  they  applied 
for  it.  They  were,  from  an  estimate  of  their  numbers, 
found  to  be  entitled  to  it  but  for  eight  Sabbaths  in  the 
year, — four  Sabbaths  to  each  denomination  :  so  that  the 
congregation  was  virtually  Presbyterian.1 

The  first  minister  whose  services  were  secured  after 


1  Campbell's  Tryon  County.  a  New  York  Gazetteer. 

3  Dr.  Hosack's  sketch  of  the  church,  on  the  files  of  the  old  Al- 
bany Presbyery. 


384  HISTORY    OF    PRESBYTERIANISM. 

the  building  was  thus  placed  in  their  possession  was 
James  Thompson,  a  member  of  the  Presbytery  of  New 
York.  His  course,  however,  was  far  from  exemplary, 
and  when  he  left,  in  1787,  quite  a  number  of  charges 
affecting  his  character  were  brought  against  him.  At 
the  request  of  the  church,  addressed  to  the  Presbytery 
of  New  York,  asking  for  a  supply,  Simon  Hosack  was 
sent  them,  and,  October  8,  1790,  he  was  dismissed  from 
the  New  York  to  Albany  Presbytery,  and  was  settled 
at  Johnstown,  December  28. 

In  other  places  within  the  bounds  of  the  Presbytery 
the  settlers  were  from  various  quarters,  quite  a  large 
number  from  New  England.  In  1761,  a  patent  for 
thirty-one  thousand  five  hundred  acres  of  land,  includ- 
ing the  site  of  the  town  of  Cambridge,  was  granted  to 
sixty  persons,  most  of  them  residents  of  Hebron,  Conn. 
Of  the  six  owners,  one  was  Jacob  Lansing,  the  founder 
of  Lansingburg.1  At  an  early  period  two  congregations 
were  formed,  one  Presbyterian  (Associate,  John  Dun- 
lop,  pastor)  and  the  other  Congregational.2  A  portion 
of  the  former  coalescing  with  the  latter  constituted  a 
Presbyterian  church,  which  placed  itself  under  the  care 
of  the  Albany  Presbytery.  In  1793,  Gershom  Williams, 
who  had  performed  much  missionary  service  in  this 
region,  and  had  repeatedly  supplied  them,  was  called 
as  their  pastor. 

Salem  was  settled  in  1761-6,  by  a  mixed  population, — 
some  from  New  England,  but  a  larger  portion  from  the 
north  of  Ireland.  In  1764,  a  patent  was  obtained  for 
twenty-five  thousand  acres, — one-half  owned  by  a  com- 
pany from  New  England,  mainly  from  Pelham,  Mass., 
and  within  the  bounds  of  the  Boston  Presbytery;  the 
other  half,  originally  owned  by  two  Government  officials, 
was  sold  by  them  to  a  company  of  Irish  and  Scotch 

1  New  York  Gazetteer.  2  Files  of  Albany  Presbytery. 


NEW    YORK,    1789-1800.  385 

Immigrants,  who  brought  with  them  their  minister, 
Thomas  Clark.1  The  rivalry  between  the  two  com- 
panies led  to  rapid  improvements.  One  party  wished 
to  call  the  place  White  Creek,  and  the  other  New  Perth. 
The  foreign  party,  wrho  belonged  to  the  Seceders,  were 
too  exclusive  to  suit  the  tastes  of  the  New  England 
men;2  and  the  result  was  that  the  latter  withdrew,  and, 
in  17G9,  organized  a  church  under  the  care  of  the  Pres- 
bytery of  New  York.  Three  years  later  they  com- 
menced the  erection  of  a  house  of  worship,  which  was 
completed  in  1774-5.  But  during  the  war  (1777-8)  it 
was  burned  to  the  ground.  In  spite  of  this  discourage- 
ment, another  was  erected  before  the  close  of  the  Avar, 
and  the  congregation  anxiously  sought  to  procure  a 
pastor.  In  May,  1787,  John  Warford,  of  New  Bruns- 
wick Presbytery,  sent  out  as  a  missionary  to  this  re- 
gion, agreed  to  supply  them,  and  in  July,  1789,  he  was 
installed  as  their  pastor. 

Ballston  was  organized  as  a  town  in  1788.  It  de- 
rived its  name  from  Eliphalet  Ball,  who,  with  a  portion 
of  what  had  long  been  his  pastoral  charge  at  Bedford, 
"Westchester  county,  removed  in  that  year  to  this  place.5 
Its  earliest  minister  was  William  Schenk,  who  had  pre- 
viously been  settled  at  Cape  May.  Galway  was  first 
settled  by  Scotch  emigrants  in  1774.  Plattsburg  was 
first  recognized  as  a  town  in  1785,  and  the  first  sermon 
in  the  place  was  preached  by  Benjamin  Vaughan  in 
1787.  Stillwater  was  formed  in  1788.  Waterford  was 
settled  by  the  Dutch  at  a  somewhat  earlier  date.  Ste- 
phentown  was  formed  in  1784;  Troy  was  constituted 
a  town  in  1791.  Lansingburg,  founded  about  1770,  had 
a  Beformed  Dutch  church  organized  in  1784,  and  in 


1  New  York  Gazetteer.  2  Files  of  Albany  Presbytery. 

3  He  had  been  appointed  a  missionary  to  this  region  as  early  as 
1771. — Synod's  Minutes.     This  was  the  case  also  with  Mr.  Schenk. 
Vol.  I.— 33. 


386  HISTORY    OP    PRESBYTERIANISM. 

1792  it  was  reorganized  as  Presbyterian,  and  called 
Jonas  Coe  as  its  pastor. 

In  1771,  a  Presbyterian  congregation  bad  already 
been  gathered  at  Schenectady,  and  they  were  engaged 
in  the  erection  of  a  church-edifice,  for  the  completion 
of  which  they  applied,  through  Alexander  Miller,  to 
the  Synod1  for  assistance.  Mr.  Miller,  a  pupil  of  Eev. 
James  Findley,  a  graduate  of  Princeton  in  1764,  and  a 
student  of  theology  under  Dr.  Eodgers,  of  New  York, 
was  licensed  in  1767,  and  ordained  in  1770,  when  he 
took  the  pastoral  charge  of  the  church.  His  ministry 
continued  for  about  eleven  years,  when  the  perils  of 
the  war  and  the  dispersion  of  his  people  led  him  to  re- 
move.2 For  some  years  the  church  appears  to  have 
been  without  a  pastor  or  stated  supply,  and  was  doubt- 
less greatly  reduced  in  strength.  Down  to  1790,  it  was 
only  able,  in  connection  with  Currie's  Bush3  and  Rem- 
sen's  Bush,  to  support  a  pastor, — John  Young,  whose 
stay  in  the  field  was  a  brief  one,  and  who  left  in  1790-1, 
and  was  dismissed  to  Montreal  Presbytery  in  1793.*  In 
1796,  he  was  succeeded  by  Robert  Smith,5  a  graduate, 
probably,  of  Princeton  in  1781 ;  but  his  laborious  zeal 
enfeebled  his  health,  and  in  1801  he  accepted  a  call  to 
Savannah.  His  successors  wTithin  a  few  years  were 
William  Clarkson  (before  1803,  who  left  before  1809), 
Alexander  Monteith  (before  1814,  who  left  before  1819), 
and  Walter  Monteith  (before  1825). 

In  1760,  a  very  pressing  application  was  made  by 
English  Presbyterians  of  Albany  to  the  Synod  for  sup- 
plies,6 and  Hector  Alison,  recently  dismissed  from  Draw- 
yers,  Del.,  and  Abraham  Kettletas,  already  on  the  point 
of  resigning  his  charge  at  Elizabethtown,  were  directed 
to  visit  and  supply  them.     In  1763,  at  the  conclusion 

1  Minutes,  p.  419.  2  Christian  Herald,  vii.  97. 

3  Now  Princetown.  4  Records  of  Albany  Presbytery. 

6  Dwight's  Travels,  ii,  489.         6  Synod's  Minutes. 


NEW    York,    L789-1800.  387 

of  the  French  War,  a  church  was  organized,  and  shortly 
after,  William  Ilanna  was  installed  its  pastor  by  the 
Presbytery  of  Dutchess  County.  He  was,  however, 
unfit  for  the  position,  and  occupied  it  only  for  two  years. 
After  quite  an  interval,  during  which  they  were  visited, 
at  the  Synod's  appointment,  by  Dr.  Rodgers,  of  New 
York,  Andrew  Bay,  "a  broad  Scotchman,"  but  "a 
highly  talented  and  eloquent  preacher,"  wTas  called  to 
the  pastorate.  For  nearly  twenty  years  previous,  he 
had  been  settled  in  Maryland,  and,  at  the  request  of  the 
Synod,  in  1768  he  spent  six  Sabbaths  in  the  vicinity  of 
Albany  and  among  the  Scotch  settlements  in  Washing- 
ton and  Montgomery  counties.  So  acceptable  were  his 
services  that  he  was  called  by  the  church  at  Albany, 
where  he  remained  for  five  years,  when  he  removed  to 
Newtown,  L.I.1 

Previous  to  his  settlement,  a  church-edifice  had  been 
erected;  but  a  heavy  debt  had  been  incurred  in  its  con- 
struction, and  the  congregation  was  in  "a  distressed 
condition."  They  applied  to  Synod  for  assistance 
(1763);  but  "sincere  pity"  was  all  the  aid  which  the 
Synod  could  afford.  In  1771,  under  Mr.  Bay's  ministry, 
they  repeated  their  application.  From  their  report  of 
the  case,  it  appeared  that  the  edifice  had  cost  nearly  three 
thousand  pounds,  for  more  than  two-thirds  of  wrhich 
three  persons  only  were  responsible,  one  of  whom  had 
already  paid  out  of  his  own  pocket  over  one  thousand 
pounds.  The  Synod  "cheerfully  and  cordially"  recom- 
mended them  "to  the  assistance  of  all  well-disposed 
tmaritable  persons  within  their  bounds."  The  recom- 
mendation undoubtedly  answered  its  purpose ;  for  we 
hear  of  no  further  application  for  aid. 

The  effect  of  the  Revolutionary  War,  however,  was  to 
disorganize  the  church.     For  several  years  there  was 

J  Hiker's  Newtown. 


388  HISTORY    OP    PRESBYTERIANISM. 

no  regular  religious  service  or  administration  of  ordi- 
nances. In  1785,  the  pastoral  labors  of  John  McDonald 
were  secured,  and  in  the  following  year  the  church  was 
reorganized.1  Four  elders  and  two  deacons  were  ap- 
pointed, and  in  1787,  when  the  first  season  of  commu- 
nion was  held,  one  hundred  and  sixteen  members  were 
admitted  to  the  church. 

In  1796,  a  new  church-edifice  was  erected.  It  was 
opened  (Nov.  2)  by  a  sermon  from  John  Blair  Smith, 
then  President  of  Union  College.  In  1798,  Eliphalet 
Nott  was  installed  pastor.  The  sermon  was  by  Dr. 
Smith;  and  several  of  the  neighboring  Dutch  ministers 
joined  in  the  imposition  of  hands. 

Up  to  the  time  of  the  erection  of  Albany  Presbytery, 
the  Synod  made  repeated  and  urgent  efforts  to  extend 
to  this  field  the  benefit  of  missionary  labor,  and  quite  a 
number  of  the  early  pastors  were  those  who  had  gone 
forth  as  missionaries.  This  was  the  case,  among  others, 
with  Schenk  of  Ballston,  "Warford  of  Salem,  Condict  of 
Stillwater,  Williams  of  Cambridge,  and  Thompson  of 
Hudson,  the  last  of  whom,  with  John  Burton,  had  been 
received  as  a  licentiate  from  Scotland,  and  with  whom 
in  1787  he  was  sent  into  this  field.2 

The  Presbytery  of  Albany  was  erected  by  the  Synod 
of  New  York  and  New  Jersey  in  1790.  Most  of  its 
churches  were  transferred  to  it  from  the  Presbj^tery 
of  New  York.  Of  this  number  were  Albany,  Cherry 
Yalley,  Johnstown,  New  Scotland,  Harpersfield,  Balls- 
ton,  East  Ballston,  Cambridge,  Kingsbury,  Schenectady, 
Currie's  Bush,  and  Eemsen's  Bush.  In  1788,  all  but 
three  of  these  were  vacant.  William  Schenk  was  at 
Ballston,  John  Warford  at  Salem,  and  John  McDonald 
at  Albany.  In  the  course  of  the  following  year,  Samp- 
son Occum  was  received  from  Suffolk  Presbytery,  as 

1  Munsell's  Albany.  a  Synod's  Minutes  for  the  year 


389 

his  mission  among  the  Oneida  Indians  fell  more  properly 
within  the  bounds  of  Albany  Presbytery,  John  Lindsley 
commenced  his  labors — although  not  installed — at  llar- 
persfield,  and  John  Young  entered  upon  his  ministry  at 
Schenectady  in  conjunction  with  Currie's  Bush. 

At  Johnstown,  Simon  Ilosack  commenced  his  ex- 
tended pastorate  December  8,  1790,  At  East  Ballston, 
William  B.  Eipley  began  to  preach  in  March,  1791,  and 
was  installed  January  10,  1792,  his  ministry  closing 
September  12,  1797.  At  Stillwater,  which  he  had  pre- 
viously visited  as  a  missionary,  and  where  he  had  or- 
ganized a  church,  Aaron  Condict  was  settled,  after  the 
delay  of  a  year,  January  15, 1793.  At  Charlton,  Samuel 
Sturges  was  installed  June  26  of  the  same  year.  At 
Cambridge,  Gershom  Williams,  who  afterward  removed 
to  New  Jerse}r,  was  settled  June  25, 1794.  At  Hudson, 
where  a  church  had  been  organized  but  a  few  years 
previous,  John  Thompson,  who  had  been  sent  out  by 
the  Synod  as  a  missionary,  commenced  his  brief  pas- 
torate July  23, 1794.  At  New  Scotland,  Benjamin  Judd 
began  his  labors  in  September,  1795.  At  Plattsburg, 
the  ministry  of  Frederick  Ilalsey  dates  from  February 
29,  1796. 

The  establishment  of  the  Presbytery  was  hailed  with 
joy  by  the  numerous  feeble  congregations  in  the  pro- 
cess of  formation  within  its  bounds.  It  was  flooded 
with  applications  for  assistance.  In  September,  1791, 
Granville  and  Westfield  asked  for  supplies.  In  Feb- 
ruary. 1793,  the  Congregational  and  Presbyterian  con- 
gregations of  Cambridge  became  united,  and  joined  in 
a  similar  request,  the  result  of  which  was  the  settlement 
of  Mr.  Williams.  Stephentown,  in  a  feeble  condition 
likewise,  made  the  same  application.  From  Glen's  Pur- 
chase, Eoyal  Grant,  and  Spruce  Creek  a  petition  (Feb. 
1793)  was  presented,  asking  to  be  taken  under  the  care 
of  Presbytery  and  to  be  furnished  with  supplies.     In 

33* 


390  HISTORY    OF   PRESBYTERIANISM. 

1795,  the  Presbyterian  congregation  of  Waterford  was 
received,  in  spite  of  the  earnest  remonstrance  of  mem- 
bers of  the  Dutch  Church,  and  Abraham  Barfield,  an 
English  Dissenter,  was  allowed  to  labor  with  them  as 
stated  supply.  In  March,  1795,  Cooperstown  was  re- 
ceived under  the  care  of  Presbytery.  In  the  following 
year  Schodack  applied  for  supplies  of  preaching.  Provi- 
dence likewise  presented  the  same  request. 

Meanwiiile  (1795),  Thompson  had  been  dismissed 
from  Hudson,  and  the  church  was  served  by  stated  sup- 
plies for  quite  a  period.  McDonald  of  Albany  (1795) 
had  been  deposed  from  the  ministry,  and  Bogart,  who 
had  been  called  in  his  place,  had  declined,  after  a  short 
period  of  service  (1797).  Young  had  left  Schenectady 
(1791),  and  the  church,  supplied  for  a  time  by  John 
Blair  Smith,  President  of  Union  College,  had  called 
Eobert  Smith,  of  New  Castle  Presbytery.  Judd  had 
been  dismissed  from  New  Scotland  (Sept.  1796),  and 
Lindsley,  who  had  left  Harpersfield  for  Galway,  where 
he  remained  till  September  13, 1796,  had  been  called  to 
Kingsborough,  where  he  was  installed  in  April,  1797. 
At  the  same  time,  Sturges  was  dismissed  from  Charlton, 
to  be  succeeded,  two  or  three  years  later,  by  Joseph 
Sweetman.  Eliphalet  Nott,  received  (Aug.  1797)  as  a 
licentiate  from  the  New  London  County  Association, 
had  declined  (Aug.  1798)  a  call  to  Cherry  Valley,  and 
accepted  one  from  Albany,  where  he  was  ordained 
October  3,  1798.  At  the  same  date,  Galway  and  Bread- 
albane  gave  a  call  to  William  Scott,  and  on  November 
13,  1798,  John  Arnold,  from  Carlisle  Presbytery,  was 
settled  at  New  Scotland.  In  February,  1798,  John 
Blair  Smith  was  dismissed  to  accept  the  charge  of  the 
Third  Presbyterian  Church  in  Philadelphia,  and  Jona- 
than Edwards,  his  successor  in  the  Presidency  of  Union 
College,  was  received  in  August,  1799.  In  February, 
1800,  Joseph  Sweetman  was  called  at  the  same  time  to 


NEW   YORK,  17S9-1800.  391 

Charlton  and  Balls  ton,  the  former  of  which  lie  chose 

to  accept  (Sept.  17).  At  the  same  time  Lindsley  was 
dismissed  from  Kingsborough.  In  August,  Aaron  J. 
Booge  was  called  to  Stephentown,  and  was  installed 
November  11.  In  November,  Eobert  Smith  left  Sche- 
nectady for  his  health,  and  his  place  was  temporarily 
supplied  by  President  Edwards. 

In  1800,  the  Presbytery  consisted  of  thirteen  mem- 
bers, ten  of  whom  had  charges,  besides  which  they  had 
under  their  care  fourteen  vacancies,  eight  of  which  were 
able  to  support  a  pastor.  The  report  of  the  following 
year  showed  that  four  members  had  been  added  to  the 
Presbytery,  making  its  number  eleven  pastors,  and  six 
without  charge. 

The  early  members  of  Albany  Presbytery  were 
largely  from  New  York  and  New  Brunswick  Presby- 
teries, although  some  were  from  Scotland.  To  the 
latter  class  belonged  McDonald,  Thompson,  and  two  or 
three  others,  none  of  whom  were  of  any  permanent 
value  to  the  Presbytery.  The  sad  fall  of  McDonald — 
deposed  in  1795 — did  not  alienate  from  him  the  sympa- 
thies of  many  of  his  countrymen,  who  long  insisted  on 
his  restoration,  and  finally  united  to  form  another 
church,  of  which  he  became  pastor.  Of  the  other  mem- 
bers of  the  Presbytery,  there  are  several  whose  names 
are  worthy  of  honor : — Coe,  of  Troy,  a  Christian  gen- 
tleman, genial,  judicious,  and  faithful  as  a  man  and 
devoted  as  a  pastor;  Hosack,  whose  long  and  success- 
ful ministry  at  Johnstown,  where  one  of  the  strongest 
churches  of  the  Presbytery  was  gathered,  testifies  to 
his  fidelity  and  efficiency;  Condict,  of  Stillwater,  whose 
melancholy  humors  and  dark  forebodings  could  not  hide 
his  worth  or  repress  his  kindness  and  hospitality,  and 
who  was  eminent  for  wisdom  and  humility;  Schenk, 
of  Ballston,  not  an  orator,  but  a  kind  and  faithful  pastor, 
and  who,  like  AVarford,  of  Salem,  had  a  heart  enlisted 


392  HISTORY   OF   PRESBYTERIANISM. 

in  the  cause  of  Christian  philanthropy  and  missionary 
enterprise;  Ripley,  of  East  Ballston,  a  man  of  cool 
judgment  and  good  sense,  and  who  deliberately  pre- 
ferred his  missionary  task  to  more  inviting  fields;  and 
to  these  we  need  only  add  the  names  of  John  Blair 
Smith,  President  Edwards,  and  Eliphalet  Nott,  to  form 
a  group  worthy  to  hold  their  place  as  pioneers  at  the 
gateway  of  the  young  and  growing  West. 

Union  College,  at  Schenectady,  was  established  in 
1795.  The  plan  of  such  an  institution  had  been  agi- 
tated as  early  as  1779.  The  inhabitants  of  the  north- 
ern counties  of  the  State  were  dissatisfied  with  the 
remote  location,  if  not  the  management,  of  Columbia 
College,  and  demanded  an  institution  of  their  own  to 
meet  their  local  wants.  In  the  petition  to  the  Assem- 
bly of  1779,  Schenectady  was  designated  as  the  site  of 
the  institution. 

A  favorable  report  upon  the  petition  was  made  to  the 
Assembly,  and  the  petitioners  were  allowed  to  bring  in 
a  bill  to  answer  their  design  at  the  next  session ;  but 
the  emergencies  of  the  war  diverted  attention  from  a 
project  which  could  flourish  only  in  the  atmosphere  of 
peace.  Several  years  passed  by,  and  the  only  progress 
which  had  been  made  in  1791 — when  a  petition  for  lib- 
erty to  ask  incorporation  for  a  college  was  laid  before 
the  State  Legislature  —  was  the  establishment  of  an 
academy  on  the  site  of  the  future  college.  The  prayer 
of  the  petition  was  not  granted,  and  it  was  not  till  four 
years  later  that  a  charter  could  be  obtained. 

The  institution  derived  its  name  from  the  union  of 
different  religious  denominations  in  its  establishment. 
The  Presbyterians  and  the  Reformed  Dutch  were  most 
active  in  their  co-operation.  John  Blair  Smith,  a  son 
of  Robert  Smith,  of  Pequa,  was  chosen  its  first  Presi- 
dent. For  twelve  years  he  had  had  charge  of  Hanip- 
den-Sidncy  College,  in  Virginia,  and  for  four  years  had 


393 

been  pastor  of  the  Pine  Streel  Church  in  Philadelphia 
He  was  a  decided  Presbyterian,  but  of  a  Liberal  spirit 
and  well  fitted  for  the  post  which  he  was  now  called  to 
occupy.  He  presided  over  the  infant  institution  for 
three  years  with  great  credit  and  success;  and  to  his 
influence  in  this  prominent  position  the  future  ecclesias- 
tical type  of  the  new  settlements  in  Western  New  York 
was  largely  due. 

Soon  after  his  inauguration  as  President,  in  the  sum- 
mer of  1795,  a  young  clergyman,  sent  out  by  the  Con- 
necticut Society  on  a  mission  to  the  "  Settlements/' 
passed  through  Schenectady,  and  wTas  invited  by  Presi- 
dent Smith  to  spend  the  night  at  his  house.  Inquiring 
of  the  young  man  his  views,  objects,  and  proposed 
theatre  of  action,  he  found  that  he  had  been  trained  in 
the  Congregational  Church,  that  his  sympathies  were 
with  it,  and  that  his  opinions  w7ere  in  favor  of  its  form 
of  church  government.  Without  discussing  at  large 
the  question  of  denominational  forms,  President  Smith 
directed  the  attention  of  his  visitor  to  the  fact  that  the 
orthodox  churches  of  New  England  held  "substantially 
the  same  faith  as  the  Presbyterian/'  and,  "  this  being 
the  case,"  he  asked,  "  is  it  wise,  is  it  Christian,  to  divide 
the  sparse  population  holding  the  same  faith,  already 
scattered,  and  hereafter  to  be  scattered,  over  this  vast 
new  territory,  into  two  distinct  ecclesiastical  organiza- 
tions, and  thus  prevent  each  from  enjoying  those  means 
of  grace  which  both  might  much  sooner  enjoy  but  for 
such  division?  Would  it  not  be  better  for  the  entire 
Church  that  these  twro  divisions  should  make  mutual 
concessions,  and  thus  effect  a  common  organization  on 
an  accommodation  plan,  with  a  view  to  meet  the  con- 
dition of  communities  so  Bituated  Vn 

The  arguments  used  by  President  Smith  were  deemed 

1  Sprague's  Annals,  iii.  4U3. 


394  HISTORY    OF    PRESBYTERIANISM. 

conclusive  by  the  young  clergyman.  They  gave  a  new 
direction  to  his  efforts,  and  led,  through  the  influence 
of  other  Congregationalists  whom  he  induced  to  co- 
operate, to  the  formation  of  numerous  Presbyterian 
churches  on  the  accommodation  plan,  and,  finally,  to 
the  Plan  of  Union. 

This  originated,  therefore,  with  the  ex-President  of 
Hampd en-Sidney  College,  and  was  carried  into  effect 
largely  through  the  influence  of  the  young  clergyman 
who  had  passed  the  night  with  him  on  his  journey  to 
his  missionary  field.  That  clergyman  was  Eliphalet 
Nott,  who,  through  the  influence  of  President  Smith, 
was  induced  to  accept  the  pastorate  of  the  Presbyte- 
rian church  of  Albany  in  1798,  and  in  1804  succeeded1 
to  the  post  which  the  latter  had  occupied  as  President 
of  Union  College. 

Thus,  six  years  before  the  Connecticut  General  Asso- 
ciation endorsed  the  "  Plan  of  Union,"  it  had  been  sub- 
stantially sketched  out  and  adopted  by  two  men,  one 
an  unquestioned  Presbyterian  and  the  other  a  decided 
Congregationalist,  each  a  fair  representative  of  his  own 
denomination ;  and,  when  it  was  introduced  to  the  at- 
tention of  the  General  Assembly  in  1801,  it  was  on  the 
motion  of  Dr.  Edwards,  the  then  President  of  Union 
College,  who  was  chairman  of  the  committee  to  which 
the  subject  was  committed. 

And  it  was  indeed  time  that  some  method  should  be 
devised  for  meeting  an  emergency  that  had  never  oc- 
curred before,  of  harmonizing  the  action  and  effort  of 
two  denominations  differing  only  in  their  form  of  gov- 
ernment and  occupying  the  same  field.  The  tide  of 
emigration  had  begun  already  to  set  strongly  toward 
the  West.     By  the  treaty  of  1794  between  the  United 

1  Dr.  Jonathan  Edwards  was  the  immediate  successor  of  Dr. 
Snith,  in  L799.     Edwards  died  in  1801. 


NEW    YORK,    1789-1800  895 

States  and  the  Six  Nations,  the  dangei'  of  depredations 
to  settlers  was  removed,  and  a  large  and  fertile  region 
was  opened  to  the  surplus  population  of  the  Atlantic 
States.  The  Genesee  Yalley  became  an  El  Dorado  to 
the  youthful  enterprise  of  the  East,  and  the  fame  of  its 
wheat-fields  was  scarcely  less  exciting  than,  at  a  later 
period,  the  report  of  California  gold.  The  want  of  roads 
was  no  sufficient  check  to  this  newly  awakened  energy 
of  purpose,  refusing  any  longer  to  be  pent  up  within 
the  bounds  of  the  older  States.  The  inhabitants  of 
Albany  regarded  the  tide  of  emigration  which  passed 
through  their  city — the  principal  avenue  to  the  West- 
ern country — in  the  winter  of  1795,  as  a  strange  phe- 
nomenon. The  old  Dutch  citizens  were  not  a  little  sur- 
prised and  astonished  to  see  the  loaded  sleighs  and  ox- 
sleds  go  by.  Twelve  hundred  of  the  former,  loaded  with 
men,  women,  children,  and  furniture,  passed  through  the 
city  within  three  days,  and  on  the  28th  of  February  five 
hundred  were  counted,  on  their  way,  between  sunrise 
and  sunset.1 

At  this  gateway  of  the  West,  the  young  man  who 
had  become  a  convert  to  the  views  of  President  Smith 
was  stationed  at  this  critical  period.  The  Connecticut 
pastors  on  their  missionary  tours  would  not  pass  with- 
out stopping  on  their  way  to  consult  and  advise  with 
their  pioneer  brother,  who  had  traversed  the  region 
before  them,  and  whose  large  heart  and  sound  judg- 
ment were  ever  at  their  service.  With  nothing  of 
ecclesiastical  bigotry  or  prejudice  to  blind  their  views, 
with  hearts  all  aglow  with  sympathy  for  the  desti- 
tution which  they  had  witnessed,  with  deep  anxiety  for 
the  religious  welfare  of  a  young  empire  springing  up 
in  the  wilderness,  it  was  only  natural  that  they  should 
feel  themselves,  and  endeavor  to  impress  on  others,  the 

1  Munsell's  Annals  of  Albany. 


396  HISTORY    OF    PRESBYTERIANISM 

necessity  of  united  effort  to  plant  gospel  institutions 
all  over  a  broad  waste,  soon  to  be  alive  with  men.  The 
General  Association  of  Connecticut,  standing  already 
on  the  semi-Presbyterian  Saybrook  platform,  and  with 
its  leading  members,  like  Dwight,  Backus,  and  Strong, 
decidedly  in  favor  of  a  nearer  approximation  to  the 
Presbyterian  system,  felt  that  it  was  no  recreancy  to 
principle,  and  scarcely  a  compromise  of  feeling,  to  cheer 
on  the  efforts  of  Presbyterians  in  building  up  churches 
of  their  order  in  the  new  settlements.  Hence,  when 
the  idea  of  a  plan  of  union  was  once  suggested  to  them, 
it  not  only  met  with  no  opposition,  but  was  warmly 
favored.  The  Association  readily  accepted,  therefore 
a  plan,  first  suggested  by  a  leading  Presbyterian,  then 
seconded  by  the  experience  of  pastors  and  missionaries; 
and  it  was  finally  adopted,  by  both  parties,  without  a 
dissenting  voice.  It  is  a  noble  monument  of  the  liberal 
feeling  both  of  the  Congregationalists  and  the  Presby- 
terians of  that  period;  and  the  Exscinding  Assembly 
of  1837  paid  it  no  unmerited  tribute  when  they  ad- 
mitted that  it  was  "projected  and  brought  into  opera- 
tion by  some  of  the  wisest  and  best  men  the  Presby- 
terian Church  has  ever  known/' 

In  1801,  a  committee  was  appointed  by  the  General 
Association  of  Connecticut  to  confer  with  a  committee 
to  be  appointed  by  the  General  Assembly  on  the  plan 
of  union  to  be  adopted.  The  Committee  of  the  Associ- 
ation consisted  of  the  Eev.  Messrs.  John  Smalley,  Levi 
Hart,  and  Samuel  Blatchford ;  that  of  the  Assembly, 
of  the  Eev.  Drs.  Edwards,  McKnight,  and  Woodhull, 
and  Eev.  Messrs.  Hutton  and  Blatchford,  the  last  of 
whom,  as  delegate  from  the  Association,  was  also  a 
member  of  the  Assembly. 

The  result  of  their  conference  was  the  adoption  of 
the  Plan  of  Union, — a  plan  which  for  more  than  the 
lifetime  of  a  generation  secured  the  friendly  and  har- 


NEW    YORK,    1789-1800.  397 

moniOUS  co-operation  of  two  Christian  denominations 
in  a  work  whose  magnitude  and  beneficence  future  cen- 
turies will  record. 

The  rapid  settlement  and  growth  of  Central  and  West- 
ern New  York  is  one  of  the  marvels  of  the  present  cen- 
tury. Before  the  year  1784,1  when  Hugh  White,  the 
father  of  the  New  England  settlements  in  that  region, 
removed  his  family  from  Middletown  and  planted  him- 
self in  Whitesborough,  there  was  not  a  single  spot  cul- 
tivated by  civilized  man  between  the  German  Flats  and 
Lake  Erie,  except  the  solitary  Stedman  farm,  near  Ni- 
agara Falls;  yet  in  1810  this  region  contained  280,319 
inhabitants. 

At  the  commencement,  therefore,  of  the  present  cen- 
tury, it  began  to  attract  the  sjiecial  attention  both  of  the 
General  Association  of  Connecticut  and  of  the  General 
Assembly.  It  was  an  opportune  field  for  the  exertions 
of  the  missionary  societies  that  had  been  recently  organ- 
ized in  New  York  and  New  England,  and  had  no  unim- 
portant influence  upon  their  formation.  The  Northern 
Missionary  Society  of  New  York,  located  in  the  neigh- 
borhood of  Albany  and  embracing  mainly  the  Dutch 
and  Presbyterian  churches  in  that  region,  was  in  the 
midst  of  a  mission-field  where  all  its  energies  were  re- 
quired. But  still  beyond,  the  destitution  was  far  more 
extreme  and  urgent.  The  Military  Tract,  embracing 
the  counties  of  Onondaga,  Cayuga,  Seneca,  and  Cort- 
land, with  portions  of  Tompkins,  Oswego,  and  Wayne, 
was  surveyed  in  1789,  and  was  now  rapidly  filling  up 
with  immigrants. 

The  Indian  title  to  the  Phelps  and  Gorham  Purchase 
(still  farther  west)  was  extinguished  in  1788.  Geneva, 
Pittsford,  and  Eichmond  were  settled  before  the  close 
of  1790;  yet  in  that  year  what  was  then  the  county  of 


1  Dwight's  Travels,  iii.  530. 
Vol.  I.— 34 


HISTORY  OF  PRESBYTER  IANISM. 

Ontario,  including  the  whole  Genesee  country,  con- 
tained only  one  thousand  and  eighty-one  inhabitants. 
From  this  period,  however,  the  growth  of  Western  New 
York  was  uuprecedently  rapid  :  immigrants  came  pour- 
ing into  it  from  all  quarters.  Some  were  from  Penn- 
sylvania, some  from  the  Old  World,  but  a  very  large 
proportion  were  from  New  England.  By  1800,  the  popu- 
lation had  increased  to  nearly  sixty  thousand,  and  in 
ten  years  more  it  had  multiplied  fourfold.1 

The  character  of  this  immigration  was  one  to  excite 
alarm  and  apprehension.  The  first  settlements  were 
formed  at  the  period  when  French  infidelity  had  at- 
tained the  largest  influence  which  it  ever  possessed  in 
this  country.  Even  where  pious  families  were  to  be 
found,  they  were  as  sheep  without  a  shepherd,  and 
were  disheartened  and  discouraged  by  the  prevalent 
irreligion  around  them.  Some  who  had  been  members 
of  churches  in  New  England  seemed  to  have  left  their 
religion  behind  them.  In  many  places  there  was  no 
one  to  be  found  to  take  measures  for  the  establishment 
of  public  religious  worship.  "The  habits  of  the  people 
were  loose  and  irreligious.  The  Sabbath  was  made  a 
day  of  business,  visiting,  or  pastime.  Drinking  and  ca- 
rousing were  frequent  concomitants."  In  other  places, 
however,  there  were  those  to  be  found  who  were  still 
mindful  of  the  professions  or  the  privileges  of  earlier 
days,  and  who  longed  for  the  enjoyment  of  the  means 
of  grace.  Gathering  their  neighbors  around  them,  they 
would  endeavor  to  observe  in  their  little  assemblies  the 
forms  of  public  worship,  and  seek  to  edify  one  another 
in  prayer,  exhortation,  and  the  reading  of  the  Scrip- 
tures. 

For  some  years  after  the  settlement  of  the  country 
commenced,  not  a  minister  of  the  gospel,  Presbyterian 

1  See  Hotchkin's  Churches  of  Western  New  York. 


NEW    YORK,    1789-1800.  399 

or  Congregational,  resided  within  its  bounds.  There 
was  not  even  an  organized  church.  Nearly  all  the  mis- 
sionary labor  that  had  been  performed  in  the  region 
had  been  performed  by  ministers  appointed  for  short 
periods  by  the  General  Assembly.  Yet,  limited  as  the 
time  of  their  efforts  was — in  their  absence  from  their 
own  charges — the  reports  of  their  labors  and  successes 
were  pronounced  by  the  Assembly  of  1799  to  be  "favor- 
able," and  to  "afford  rational  ground  to  believe  that 
the  appropriations  of  the  voluntary  contributions  of 
our  Christian  brethren  for  the  benevolent  purpose  of 
extending  the  means  of  religious  instruction  in  those 
parts  of  our  country  will  prove  satisfactory  to  them, 
and  encourage  them  to  further  assistances  in  that 
way." 

Of  the  ministers  sent  out  by  the  Assembly,  Rev.  Ira 
Condict  organized  a  church  in  Palmyra  in  1793;  Eev. 
Benjamin  Judd,  one  at  Windsor,  at  nearly  the  same  time ; 
and  Eev.  Daniel  Thatcher,  in  1795,  the  three  churches 
of  Elmira,  Lima,  and  Geneseo.  Almost  at  the  same 
time,  Congregational  churches  were  organized  by  mis- 
sionaries from  Connecticut, — one  by  Rev.  Mr.  Campbell 
at  Sherburne,  and  another  by  Rev.  Zadoc  Hunn  at  East 
Bloomfield.  Between  1796  and  1800,  several  other  small 
churches  had  been  organized.  Rev.  Reuben  Parmele 
was  installed  at  Victor  in  1799;  Rev.  Timothy  Field  at 
Canandaigua  in  1800;  and  Rev.  Mr.  Grover  at  Bristol 
in  the  same  year. 

But  in  1800  more  vigorous  measures  were  taken  by  the 
General  Assembly  for  the  visitation  and  suppty  of  this 
whole  region.  In  1798,  Rev.  Mr.  Logan  had  traversed 
the  country,  and  preached  with  so  much  acceptance 
that  the  settlers  urgently  requested  his  return.  The 
request  was  approved  by  the  Assembly,  and  additional 
laborers  were  appointed  for  different  periods  in  this  in- 
viting field. 


400  HISTORY    OF    PRESBYTERIANISM. 

These  measures  were  adopted  in  accordance  with  the 
established  mission-policy  of  the  Church,  but  they  were 
prosecuted  with  enlarged  vigor  in  consequence  of  the 
intelligence  from  Western  New  York.  A  letter  of  the 
late  Dr.  Williston,  of  Durham,  N.Y.,  then  a  young  mis- 
sionary in  the  service  of  the  Connecticut  Missionary 
Society,  was  published  in  the  New  York  "Missionary 
Magazine"  early  in  1800,  and  spread  before  the  churches 
the  cheering  success  of  the  previous  year.  That  year, 
for  a  long  period,  was  destined  to  be  remembered  through- 
out the  region  as  the  year  of  the  Great  Revival.  One 
of  the  most  prominent  of  the  ministers  who  were  con- 
nected with  it  was  the  late  Jedediah  Bushnell,  of  Corn- 
wall, Yt.  Six  years  before,  while  engaged  in  his  tan- 
ning-mill at  Saybrook,  Conn.,  a  stranger  stepped  in  to 
inquire  of  him  the  way.  Having  obtained  his  informa- 
tion, he  lingered  long  enough  to  ask  his  informant 
whether  he  was  in  the  "  way"  of  salvation.  A  few  se- 
rious words  were  dropped,  which  led  to  the  conviction 
and  conversion  of  Mr.  Bushnell.  He  immediately  gave 
up  his  business,  entered  Williams  College,  was  gradu- 
ated in  1797,  and  in  the  following  year  was  invited  to 
Canandaigua  to  supply  the  pulpit  of  the  infant  church 
in  that  place.  He  went;  but,  not  content  with  supply- 
ing his  own  people,  he  traversed  the  surrounding  region 
as  a  missionary.  Earnest,  affectionate,  discreet,  and 
devoted  entirely  to  his  work,  he  won  the  affection  and 
respect  of  all.  A  powerful  revival  commenced.  Mr. 
Williston,  who  had  completed  his  commission  for  the 
Military  Tract,  joined  his  friend  Bushnell.  On  every 
side  the  work  spread.  Places  could  not  be  procured 
large  enough  to  accommodate  the  crowds  who  pressed 
to  hear  the  word.  "It  seemed  as  if  there  was  scarcely 
anybody  at  home  who  could  possibly  get  to  meeting." 

Intelligence  of  this  state  of  things  was  given  in  Wil- 
liston's  letter.     He  wrote,  moreover,  "  There  is  a  great 


NEW    YORK,    1 789-1 SOO.  401 

call  for  preachers  in  tin's  county  and  in  the  other  west- 
ern counties  of  this  State.  There  are  scarcely  any 
settled  ministers  in  all  this  extensive,  flourishing,  and 

growing  country."  Rev.  Walter  King,  who  performed 
a  missionary  tour  in  the  counties  of  Chenango  and 
Tioga  (1798),  wrote,  "While  I  have  been  a  preacher, 
never  did  I  enjoy  a  season,  in  so  short  a  time,  of  so 
much  Christian  satisfaction  or  so  high  a  probability  of 
being  really  useful  to  the  souls  of  men."  In  the  winter 
of  1798  the  work  began.  Through  the  spring  and  sum- 
mer following  it  was  characterized  by  a  "wonderful 
display  of  divine  power  and  grace  in  the  conversion  of 
sinners."  Throughout  the  region  "individuals  appeared 
awakened  in  most  places."  Several  churches  were  soon 
organized,  although  the  missionaries  said,  "We  are 
afraid  to  establish  churches  while  there  are  no  shep- 
herds within  call  to  feed  and  lead  them." 

The  revival  commenced  at  Palmyra;  it  soon  ex- 
tended to  Bristol,  Bloomfield,  Canandaigua,  Richmond, 
and  Lima,  and  to  other  places  in  a  less  marked  man- 
ner. Quite  a  number  of  churches  were  formed,  and  in 
1800  the  Association  of  Ontario  was  organized, —  at 
first  on  strictly  Congregational  principles,  but  three 
years  later  its  Constitution  was  so  revised  and  altered 
as  to  give  it  jurisdiction  over  the  ministers  and  churches 
to  such  an  extent  as  to  exclude  them  from  the  connec- 
tion if  found  erroneous  in  doctrine  or  practice. 

Here  was  already,  almost  contemporaneous  with  the 
adoption  of  the  Plan  of  Union,  a  voluntary  approxi- 
mation by  the  Congregational  body  to  Presbyterian 
principles.  The  circumstances  in  which  ministers  and 
churches  in  the  new  settlements  found  themselves,  de- 
manded a  stricter  discipline  than  was  necessary  in  the 
towns  and  parishes  of  New  England.  There  was  thus 
on  the  part  of  Congrcgationalists  themselves  a  dispo- 
sition not  to  fall  back  on  any  favorite  form  of  govern- 


402  HISTORY    OF    PRESBYTERIANISM. 

ment,  but  to  select  that  which  was  best  adapted  to  the 
emergencies  of  the  case. 

At  the  close  of  the  eighteenth  century  the  institutions 
of  the  gospel  had  been  extensively  planted  in  Western 
New  York;  and  it  would  be  difficult  to  say  whether  the 
preponderating  influence  was  on  the  side  of  Presby- 
terians or  Congregationalists.  It  was  a  question  which 
no  one  was  disposed  to  raise,  and  the  means  of  its  solu- 
tion are  not  readily  to  be  obtained.  The  strength  of 
the  two  denominations  west  of  the  Hudson  seems  to 
have  been  nearly  equal,  in  case  the  Presbyterian  lean- 
ings of  the  bodies  Congregational  in  name  be  not  taken 
into  account.  Nearly  or  quite  twenty  churches  had 
been  organized,  although  with  scarcely  an  exception 
they  were  all  in  a  feeble  state.  By  1793  the  churches 
of  Sherburne,  Windsor,  and  Cazenovia  had  been  gath- 
ered. In  the  course  of  the  two  or  three  years  that  fol- 
lowed, those  of  Auburn,  East  Palmyra,  and  Elmira  were 
added  to  the  list.  Before  or  by  1800,  the  number  was 
increased  by  those  of  Oxford,  Bainbridge,  Springport, 
Scipio  First,  Milan,  Geneva,  Ovid,  Lisle,  Naples,  and 
probably  some  few  others. 


The  "  History  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  in  the  State  of 
Kentucky "  by  the  Rev.  Robert  Davidson,  D.  D.,  with  its 
*  preliminary  sketch  of  the  churches  in  the  Valley  of  Vir- 
ginia," is  a  work  to  which  I  cheerfully  acknowledge  my 
great  indebtedness  for  aid  in  the  preparation  of  the  chapter 
upon  Kentucky.  It  has  been  carefully  prepared  from  a 
great  variety  of  sources,  many  of  them  original  and  some 
of  them  no  longer  accessible,  and  the  author  has  faithfully 
cited  his  authorities.  His  biographical  sketches  are  espe- 
cially valuable,  and  his  accounts  of  the  Great  Revival  and 
the  origin  of  the  Cumberland  Presbyterians  are  of  perma- 
nent interest. 


KENTUCKY,    1775-lSOO.  403 


CHAPTER   XIX. 

EARLY    HISTORY  OF   THE    PRESRYTERTAN    CHURCH    IN    KEN- 
TUCKY,   1775-1800. 

Some  estimate  may  be  formed  of  the  urgent  claims 
of  the  great  mission-field  west  of  the  Alleghanies  and 
south  of  the  Ohio,  from  the  fact  that  the  aggregate 
population  of  Kentucky  and  Tennessee  had  increased 
from  little  more  than  one  hundred  thousand  in  1790  to 
three  hundred  and  twenty-five  thousand  in  1800.  A 
constant  stream  of  immigration  was  pouring  into  it 
from  the  older  settlements,  at  the  rate  of  something 
like  an  average  of  twenty  thousand  a  year.  This  was 
during  a  period  when  New  England  had  scarcely  begun 
to  colonize  west  of  the  Hudson,  and  when  Central  and 
Western  New  York  were  in  process  of  being  surveyed. 
The  pioneers  were  bold  and  hardy  men,  ready  to  brave 
the  hardships  of  the  wilderness  and  contend  with  the 
beasts  of  the  forest  or  the  scarcely  less  merciless  Indian 
tribes.  Their  lives  were  full  of  strange  vicissitude 
and  romantic  incident.  Constant  hazard  and  peril 
seemed  to  become  at  length  the  necessary  stimulant  to 
healthful  energy. 

Among  such  a  people,  the  recluse  scholar,  with  his 
logical,  polished  discourse  read  from  the  manuscript, 
was  not  needed.  Erudition  and  refinement  were  not 
in  demand.  The  hardy  backwoodsman  required  a  new 
type  of  preacher, — one  who  could  shoulder  axe  or  musket 
with  his  congregation,  preach  in  shirt-sleeves,  and  take 
the  stump  for  a  pulpit.     Men  of  this  stamp  could  not 


404  HISTORY    OF    PRESBYTERIANISM. 

be  manufactured  to  order  in  colleges.     They  must  of 
necessity  be  trained  up  on  the  field. 

They  were  for  the  most  part  thus  trained, — many  of 
them  after  their  arrival  in  the  region;  but  it  was  wise 
and  necessary  that  they  should  not  despise  learning. 
A  happy  influence  was  exerted  over  them  by  the  pioneer 
missionary  who  laid  the  foundations  of  the  Presby- 
terian Church  in  this  part  of  the  country.  Rev.  David 
Bice,  better  known  as  "  Father  Rice,"  at  the  mature 
age  of  fifty,  crossed  the  mountains  and  found  a  home 
in  Mercer  county,  Ky.,  as  early  as  October,  1783.  He 
was  a  man  of  education  and  ability  and  of  most  de- 
voted zeal.  He  had  pursued  his  classical  studies  in 
early  life  under  the  direction  of  the  celebrated  James 
Waddel,  had  been  graduated  at  Princeton  College 
under  the  Presidency  of  Samuel  Davies,  had  studied 
theology  with  Rev.  James  Todd,  been  licensed  by  the 
Presbytery  of  Hanover,  had  labored  as  a  missionary 
in  South  Virginia  and  North  Carolina,  and  settled  as 
pastor  of  the  church  at  the  Peaks  of  Otter.  During 
the  Revolutionary  conflict  he  occupied  a  new  and  fron- 
tier settlement,  and  in  that  mountainous  region  and 
among  a  heterogeneous  population  acquired  that  expe- 
rience which  fitted  him  so  well  for  his  future  field. 
Tall  and  slender  in  person,  quiet  in  his  movements,  but 
with  an  alertness  that  continued  to  extreme  age,  he 
entered  upon  his  work  beyond  the  mountains  with  the 
energy  and  composure  of  one  who  knew  the  greatness 
of  the  task  he  had  undertaken.  Sagacious  to  discern 
the  signs  of  the  times,  and  quick  to  detect  the  character 
and  dangers  of  the  society  around  him,  he  was  fully 
competent  to  expose  the  errors  which  were  flooding 
the  land,  and  lay  solid  the  gospel  foundations  that 
should  stay  the  rushing  tide.  His  "  Essay  on  Baptism" 
did  good  service  in  that  Western  region  years  before 
the  opening  of  the  presei  4;  century,  and  when  a  print- 


KENTUCKY,  1775-1800.  405 

ing-press  to  publish  it  could  not  be  found  west  of  the 
mountains.  Of  the  cause  of  freedom  he  was  a  bold 
and  consistent  champion.  "  Slavery  Inconsistent  with 
Justice  and  Policy"  was  the  title  of  a  pamphlet  issued 
by  him  in  1792.  The  views  presented  in  it  were  forcibly 
urged  by  him  in  the  convention  that  formed  the  State 
Constitution.  Nor  did  the  cause  of  education  find  in 
him  a  lukewarm  friend.  While  a  resident  of  Virginia, 
he  had  officially  labored  to  promote  the  cause  of  liberal 
learning.  He  took  an  active  part  in  the  establishment 
of  Hampden-Sidncy  College,  and  had  an  important 
agency  in  procuring  its  two  first  Presidents,  Samuel 
Stanhope  Smith  and  Eobert  Blair  Smith.  Kentucky 
needed  such  a  man ;  and  when  the  trustees  of  Transyl- 
vania University  met,  shortly  after  his  arrival  in  that 
region,  at  Crow's  Station,  he  was  President  of  the 
Board,  and  was  ever  its  steadfast  friend.  He  felt  that 
the  School  and  the  Church  had  a  common  interest,  and 
that  Kentucky  must  educate  her  own  sons.  To  the 
ripe  age  of  eighty-three  he  was  spared  to  see  new 
laborers  gather  around  him,  and  the  institutions  he 
had  planted  rise  to  the  promise  of  a  blessed  harvest. 

Nor  was  he  left  long  alone  in  this  new  field.  In 
1784,  Eev.  Adam  Rankin,  who  settled  at  Lexington, 
and  Rev.  James  Crawford,1  who  located  at  Walnut 
Hill,  came  to  his  support.  Two  years  later,  Andrew 
McClure,  who  took  the  first  charge  of  the  Salem  and 
Paris  congregations,  and  Thomas  B.  Craighead,  of 
North  Carolina,  whose  name  is  associated  with  that  of 
the  Shiloh  Church,  and  of  whom  the  Hon.  John  Breck- 
inridge said  that  his  discourses  made  a  more  lasting 


i  James  Crawford  was  a  graduate  of  Princeton  in  1777.  Two 
years  later  he  was  licensed  by  the  Presbytery  of  Hanover,  and  in 
1784  removed  to  Kentucky,  settling  at  Walnut  Hill,  where  he 
gathered  a  nourishing  church.     IS'.e  death  occurred  in  1803. 


406  HISTORY    OF    PRESBYTERIANISM. 

impression  on  him  than  those  of  any  other  man,  joined 
the  feeble  band.  These  five  ministers,  with  Rev.  Zerah 
Templin,  recently  ordained  an  evangelist,  constituted 
the  first  Presbytery,  October  17, 1786.  Twelve  congre- 
gations were  already  at  least  partially  organized. 

In  1790,  the  first  missionaries  sent  out  by  the  Synod 
of  Virginia,  and  in  fact  by  the  Presbyterian  Church 
after  the  formation  of  the  General  Assembly,  entered 
this  field.  These  were  Robert  Marshall  and  the  cele- 
brated Carey  H.  Allen.  The  first  was  a  licentiate  of  Red- 
stone Presbytery.  He  was  a  native  of  Ireland,  but  in 
his  twelfth  year  (1772)  emigrated  with  his  father's 
family  to  Western  Pennsylvania.  He  was  a  wild 
youth,  and  at  the  age  of  sixteen  enlisted  as  a  private 
in  the  army,  against  the  remonstrance  of  his  mother. 
Strangely  enough,  his  course  now  was  more  sober  and 
moral  than  before.  He  abstained  from  all  the  vices  of 
camp-life,  and,  when  not  on  duty,  retired  to  his  tent 
and  devoted  himself  to  the  study  of  arithmetic  and 
mathematics.  He  was  in  six  general  engagements, 
one  of  which  was  the  hard-fought  battle  of  Monmouth. 
Here  his  locks  were  grazed  by  a  bullet,  and  he  nar- 
rowly escaped  with  his  life.  After  the  war  he  joined 
the  Seceders,  but  was  still  a  stranger  to  vital  religion. 
It  was  under  a  searching  discourse  of  Dr.  McMillan 
that  he  was  first  brought  to  feel  his  guilt  as  a  sinner. 
Now  he  was  humbled  in  the  dust :  his  self-possession 
deserted  him,  and  he  fell  into  a  state  of  the  deepest 
anguish.  At  length  hope  dawned  upon  him,  and,  with 
new  views  of  duty,  he  devoted  himself  to  the  work  of 
the  ministry. 

He  pursued  his  academical  studies  at  Liberty  Hall. 
His  theological  course  was  completed  under  Dr.  McMil- 
lan. For  some  months  he  labored  as  a  missionary  in 
Virginia,  and  at  the  close  of  1790  set  out  under  the 
commission  of  the  Virginia  Synod  for  Kentucky. 


KENTUCKY,    1775-1800.  407 

He  was  accompanied  by  Carey  II.  Allen.  Allen  was  the 
son  of  a  Virginia  planter  of  Cumberland  county.  JIo 
was  educated  at  Hampden-Sidney,  and  was  one  of  the 
early  converts  of  the  revival  of  1787.  His  disposition 
was  gay  and  volatile;  and  such,  to  a  great  extent,  it 
remained  after  his  conversion.  But  his  spirit  was  ever 
cheerful  and  his  good  nature  imperturbable.  "  He 
was  a  mirthful,  fun-loving,  pleasant  companion,  and  a 
great  wit  and  satirist."  Sucb  was  his  humorous  de- 
meanor, and  so  odd  and  ludicrous  his  frequent  conver- 
sation, that  the  Presbytery  for  some  time  hesitated  to 
license  him.  But  his  strange  sallies  and  eccentricities 
were  overruled  by  his  controlling  devotion  of  purpose, 
and  made,  not  unfrequently,  the  means  of  arresting  the 
attention  or  exciting  the  religious  interest  of  others. 

The  journey  of  the  two  young  men  to  Kentucky  was 
by  no  means  one  that  could  be  considered  safe  or  plea- 
sant. There  were  but  two  routes  to  the  Western  settle- 
ments, and  each  was  beset  with  great  hazard  and 
danger.  One  was  by  the  Ohio,  taking  a  boat  at  Bed- 
stone Old  Fort,1  and  the  other  by  a  forced  passage, 
with  greater  risk  of  Indian  assault,  through  the  wil- 
derness. The  last  was  tolerably  safe  for  large  bands 
of  emigrants,  but  more  dangerous  for  individuals. 
Marshall  and  Allen  chose  the  river-route.  While  wait- 
ing for  the  company  to  be  made  up,  they  employed 
themselves  in  preaching  among  the  neighboring  con- 
gregations. In  spite  of  the  disaffection  produced  in 
some  quarters  by  their  use  of  Watts's  Psalms  and 
Hymns,  a  favorable  impression  was  made,  and  a  revival 
commenced.  It  was  fairly  in  progress  when  they  em- 
barked, and  continued  after  their  departure. 

The  voyage  was  favorable,  and  they  landed  safely 
in  Kentucky.     They  immediately  entered  upon  their 

1  Brownsville,  on  the  Monongahela. 


408  HISTORY    OF    PRESBYTERIANISM. 

missionary  work.  Marshall  collected  a  congregation 
who  chose  him  for  their  pastor,  and  he  was  soon 
settled  over  Bethel  and  Blue  Spring  Churches.  Allen 
itinerated  for  six  months  with  marked  popularity  and 
success.  He  preached  almost  daily,  and  frequently  at 
night.  Crowds  followed  him,  many  of  them  attracted 
by  more  than  a  mere  idle  curiosity.  Seed  was  sown 
for  the  harvest  of  after-years. 

In  the  spring  of  1791,  Allen  returned  to  Virginia.  A 
small  party  accompanied  him.  Armed  with  a  rifle,  and 
girded  with  a  wampum  shot-pouch  which  had  been 
taken  from  a  hostile  Indian  and  given  to  him  as  a  pre- 
sent, he  looked  more  like  a  backwoods  hunter  than  a 
clergyman.  The  journey  was  safely  made,  and  Allen 
made  his  report  to  the  commission  of  Synod.  It  was 
so  interesting  and  encouraging  that  he  was  directed 
to  return  and  continue  his  labors  as  an  itinerant  mis- 
sionary. 

William  Calhoon,  recently  licensed  by  Hanover  Pres- 
bytery, accompanied  him  as  an  associate.  In  some 
respects  he  was  the  reverse  of  Allen,  but  not  less  de- 
voted. Sedate,  unaffected,  sincere,  and  conscientious 
from  his  very  childhood,  which  had  been  spent  in  a 
pious  home,  he  entered  Hampden-Sidney  at  an  early 
age,  and  was  one  of  the  converts  of  the  revival  of  1787. 
At  the  request  of  William  Hill,  a  fellow-student,  he 
brought  back  from  his  father's  house  the  book — 
"  Alleine's  Alarm"— the  perusal  of  which  was  the  first 
occasion  of  serious  inquiry  among  the  students.  Along 
with  Allen,  Blythe,  Hill,  and  Eead,  he  was  associated 
in  the  meetings  and  efforts  by  which  the  revival  was 
promoted  and  extended.  On  the  12th  of  May,  1792, 
he  was  licensed  to  preach,  and  a  few  months  after- 
ward set  out  with  Allen  on  his  trip  to  Kentucky.  He 
was  at  this  time  only  twenty  years  of  age. 

Both    entered    zealously   upon    their   work.     Both 


KENTUCKY,    1775-1800.  409 

travelled  extensively  among  the  infant  and  scattered 
settlements  of  Kentucky.  Their  several  characters 
were  strongly  in  contrast  in  some  respects,  but  each 
was  wellnigh  unrivalled  in  his  own  sphere.  Calhoon 
was  more  grave,  but  equally  self-possessed.  Calm, 
resolute,  clear  in  thought  and  purpose,  with  a  readiness 
and  promptness  of  utterance  that  put  him  always  at 
his  ease,  he  was  prepared  for  any  occasion.  Pleasing 
anecdotes  are  narrated  of  his  perfect  self-possession 
and  quickness  of  retort.  He  wrote  few  sermons;  but 
in  his  extempore  efforts  his  thoughts  were  carefully 
meditated  and  arranged.  His  work,  like  that  of  his 
friend  Allen,  was  faithfully  and  energetically  accom- 
plished. Dividing  their  labors  between  Kentucky  and 
Virginia,  they  accomplished,  each  in  his  sphere,  a  vast 
amount  of  labor. 

Meanwhile,  feeble  as  were  the  beginnings  of  the 
Presbyterian  Church  in  Kentucky,  it  was  still  further 
weakened  by  schism  and  secession.  A  large  number 
of  the  Presbyterians  who  had  settled  in  the  region 
clung  with  a  bigoted  affection  to  the  exclusive  use  of 
the  old  version  of  the  Psalms.  The  Synod  of  New 
York  and  Philadelphia  in  1787  allowed  "  that  Dr. 
Watts's  imitation  of  David's  Psalms,  as  revised  by  the 
Eev.  Mr.  Barlow,  be  sung  in  the  churches  and  families 
under  their  care ;"  while  at  the  same  time  they  dis- 
claimed all  disapproval  of  Rouse's  version,  leaving  it 
to  each  congregation  to  judge  and  select  for  them- 
selves. 

This  was,  in  the  view  of  many,  the  toleration  and 
(jruasi-encouragement  of  a  dangerous  innovation.  But, 
in  spite  of  opposition,  it  was  rapidly  gaining  ground. 
The  young  preachers  especially  were  decidedly  in  favor 
of  Watts,  and  in  some  cases  fanned  a  flame  of  prejudice 
against  themselves  by  advocating  the  innovation.  Old 
Mr.  Finley  was  so  apprehensive  of  the  effects  upon  his 
Vol.  I.— 35 


410  HISTORY   OF    PRESBYTERIANISM. 

own  congregation  of  the  use  of  Watts  by  Allen  and 
Marshall  during  their  brief  stay  in  the  neighborhood 
of  Bedstone  fort,  that  he  begged  them  to  desist. 
"Never  fear,"  said  Allen:  "God  will  bring  order  out 
of  it."  And  he  did.  The  young  people  and  the  great 
mass  of  the  congregation  had  no  special  attachment 
to  Rouse's  version,  and  crowded  to  hear  the  young 
preachers.  The  powerful  revival  referred  to  above 
soon  commenced. 

But  the  most  disastrous  results  of  the  change  ini- 
tiated were  felt  in  Kentucky.  Quite  a  large  number 
of  the  Presbyterian  settlers  were  from  Scotland  and 
strongly  attached  to  the  Associate  Synod.  They  needed 
only  a  champion  of  Bouse,  to  give  him  a  warm  support. 

This  champion  soon  appeared;  but  his  own  character 
injured  the  cause  he  advocated,  and  gave  occasion  for 
sad  divisions.  Adam  Rankin,  born  in  Western  Penn- 
sylvania, was  on  his  mother's  side  descended  from  one 
of  the  Scottish  martyrs.  In  his  childhood  he  had  heard 
from  her  lips  the  terrible  story  of  the  massacre  in  which 
that  ancestor  had  fallen  a  victim,  and  it  never  lost  its 
impression.  From  the  moment  of  his  birth  he  was  dedi- 
cated to  the  ministry.  But  his  nature  was  a  strange 
compound.  He  seemed  to  inherit  all  the  stirring  energy 
with  no  little  of  the  disputatious  spirit  of  the  most  im- 
practical and  theorizing  of  the  martyrs  of  the  Covenant. 
Obstinate  and  opinionated,  nothing  could  control  his 
headstrong  purpose.  With  something  of  humorous  sar- 
casm and  acute -reasoning  on  minor  points,  he  was  no 
logician,  and  made  up  for  his  lack  in  this  respect  by  a 
Lutheran  coarseness  of  expression.  His  opponents  were 
"  swine,"  "  sacrilegious  robbers,"  "  hypocrites,"  "  deists," 
"  blasphemers."  In  his  disposition  there  was  a  dash  of 
enthusiasm,  bordering  on  fanaticism.  He  believed  in 
dreams :  a  dream  led  him  to  leave  his  native  home ;  a 
dream  was  his  warrant  for  opposing  Watts's  version  of 


KENTUCKY,    1775-1800.  411 

the  Psalms.  He  met  his  death  at  the  outset  of  his  con- 
templated journey  to  Jerusalem, — a  journey  to  which 
he  had  been  impelled  by  a  dream,  or  his  visionary  views 
of  the  prophecies. 

In  1784  he  was  laboring  in  Augusta  county,  Va., 
when  a  call  reached  him  from  the  Presbyterians  of 
Lexington,  who  were  endeavoring  to  secure  the  organ- 
ization of  the  Mount  Zion  church.  He  repaired  to  the 
field  to  which  he  had  been  invited,  and  immediately 
found  himself  surrounded  by  a  large  congregation.  On 
sacramental  occasions,  not  less  than  five  hundred  com- 
municants, it  is  said,  sometimes  participated.  These 
scenes,  somewhat  approaching  the  character  of  the 
camp-meetings  which  were  soon  to  be  introduced,  were 
congenial  to  Rankin's  taste.  They  allowed  full  scope 
for  his  peculiar  energies.  His  own  sensibilities  were 
intensely  excited,  and  at  length  seemed  to  acquire  a 
morbid  character.  But  the  question  of  psalmody  was 
still  paramount  to  all  others.  Before  Transylvania 
Presbytery  (1786)  was  constituted — at  the  Conference 
of  1785,  when  "Father"  Rice  was  the  only  ordained 
minister  present  beside  himself — Rankin,  who  had  re- 
sided in  Kentucky  but  a  few  months,  brought  the  sub- 
ject to  the  attention  of  the  body.  It  was  composed, 
besides  two  ministers,  Rice  and  Rankin  himself,  of  two 
probationers,  Crawford  and  Templin,  and  twenty-three 
representatives  of  twelve  different  congregations.  The 
harmony  of  the  Conference  was  in  great  danger  of  being 
disturbed.  The  psalmody  question  at  such  a  crisis  could 
he  regarded  only  as  an  apple  of  discord.  But  he  stood 
alone  in  his  views;  and,  while  he  regarded  his  minis- 
terial brethren  as  latitudinarian,  they  were  constrained 
to  regard  him  as  little  less  than  a  bigot. 

The  action  of  the  Synod  in  1787  greatly  dissatisfied 
him.  Instead  of  regarding  the  kind  counsel  of  that 
body  upon   the   subject,  he  was  only   irritated  by  it. 


412  HISTORY    OF    PRESBYTERIANISM. 

His  Indignation  broke  out  in  censorious  invectives. 
The  Presbyterian  clergy  he  accounted  deists  and  blas- 
phemers, rejecters  of  Eevelation  and  revilers  of  the 
word  of  God.  From  the  communion  of  his  own  church 
he  unceremoniously  debarred  all  Watts's  admirers. 

Such  was  his  zeal  in  the  matter  that  he  attended  the 
first  General  Assembly  at  Philadelphia,  in  1789,  and, 
though  he  bore  no  commission,  handed  in  an  overture 
and  a  request  to  be  heard  upon  the  subject.  His  object 
was  to  obtain  a  repeal  of  the  resolution  of  the  old 
Synod,  allowing  the  use  of  Watts  in  the  churches.  He 
was  patiently  heard  and  considerately  and  kindly  ad- 
vised; but  the  charity  which  the  Synod  recommended 
him  to  exercise  accorded  neither  with  his  character  nor 
his  principles. 

More  vehement  than  ever,  he  shielded  himself  under 
the  pretence  of  a  divine  warrant  extended  to  him  in 
dreams.  Parodying  the  words  of  Christ,  his  reply  on 
one  occasion  to  a  question  addressed  him  was,  "  Tell 
me,  was  the  institution  of  Watts  of  heaven  or  of  men, 
and  I  will  tell  you  by  what  authority  I  did  these 
things."  He  would  displace  Watts  to  restore  Eouse, 
yet  gave  his  own  night-visions  a  place  above  the  autho- 
rity not  only  of  reason,  but  of  the  word  of  God. 

His  unwarrantable  proceedings  could  no  longer  be 
passed  over  in  silence  by  the  Presbytery.  A  com- 
mittee of  prosecution  was  appointed  to  examine  the 
allegations  against  him,  and,  if  necessary,  make  ar- 
rangements for  a  trial.  The  result  of  their  labors  ap- 
peared in  several  formal  charges  and  specifications. 
He  was  cited  for  trial,  but,  from  reasons  easily  to  be 
surmised,  refused  to  appear.  Precipitately  withdraw- 
ing from  the  country,  he  remained  absent  two  years. 
Kev.  James  Blythe  was  appointed  to  fill  his  pulpit,  upon 
the  request  of  his  congregation  for  a  supply. 

"Upon  his  return,  the  citations  wTere  renewed.     The 


KENTUCKY,   1776-1800.  413 

trial  came  on,  April  2f>,  171)2.  After  a  protracted  in- 
vestigation, he  was  found  guilty  of  traducing  his  breth- 
ren, unwarrantably  excluding  applicants  from  the 
Lord's  Supper,  and  narrating  his  dreams  as  revela- 
tions from  heaven.  When  summoned  to  hear  the 
opinion  of  the  court,  he  refused  to  acknowledge  his 
fault  or  make  any  concessions.  "  I  appeal,"  he  cried, 
"to  God,  angels,  and  men.  I  protest  against  the  pro- 
ceedings of  this  Presbytery,  and  will  be  no  longer  a 
member  of  the  Transylvania  Presbytery."  Having 
said  this,  he  withdrew,  accompanied  by  his  elder.  For 
this  open  contempt  of  jurisdiction  the  Presb37tery  sus- 
pended him  from  the  exercise  of  ministerial  functions 
until  the  next  stated  session. 

This,  however,  he  was  prepared  to  disregard.  He 
had  not  taken  the  step  without  calculating  his  strength. 
No  sooner  had  he  pronounced  his  declinature,  than  a 
hundred  of  the  spectators  stepped  forward  and,  giving 
him  the  right  hand  of  fellowship,  pledged  themselves 
to  sustain  him.  A  general  meeting  of  his  followers  was 
soon  held,  and  measures  were  matured  for  a  separate 
organization.  Commissioners  appeared,  representing 
portions  of  twelve  congregations  and  five  hundred 
families.  A  narrative  of  events  and  declaration  of 
principles  was  drawn  up  by  Eankin.  The  Presbytery 
were  forced  to  meet  it  by  a  counter-statement,  and,  in 
consequence  of  his  contumacy,  to  depose  him  from  the 
ministry  and  declare  his  charge  vacant.  Artful  mis- 
representations of  the  matter  were  spread  abroad  by 
Rankin's  adherents.  He  was  represented  as  a  martyr 
to  his  adherence  to  House's  Version,  and  was  thus  com- 
mended to  the  sympathies  of  the  Associate  Reformed, 
with  whom  he  united  in  1793. 

From  this  period  his  cause  received  no  new  accession 
of  strength.  In  1798,  Armstrong  and  Fulton,  mission- 
aries from  the  Associate  Church  of  Scotland,  visited 

35* 


414  HISTORY    OF    PRESBYTERIANISM. 

Kentucky,  and  Rankin's  followers  left  him  to  join  them. 
His  own  church  clung  to  him  with  devoted  attachment, 
and,  when  he  broke  off  from  the  Associate  Reformed, 
became  Independent.  But  his  cause  continued  steadily 
to  decline,  till  it  became  almost  utterly  insignificant. 
Its  only  effect  had  been  to  rend  congregations  in  sun- 
der, distract  them  with  dissensions,  and  convulse  them 
with  disputes,  disturbing  the  harmony  of  the  Church 
and  aggravating  the  difficulties  of  the  field  as  a  sphere 
for  missionary  effort. 

These  difficulties,  and  others  disconnected  with  them, 
were  to  be  met  by  fresh  bands  of  Presbyterian  mission- 
aries. In  1792,  Rev.  James  Blythe  entered  the  field. 
He  was  a  native  of  North  Carolina,  and  of  Scottish  ex- 
traction. His  education  was  acquired  at  Hampden-Sid- 
ney  College,  where  for  a  time  he  was  the  only  member 
wTho  had  made  a  profession  of  religion.  His  serious- 
ness, however,  vanished  as  he  mingled  with  his  thought- 
less associates;  nor  was  his  careless  course  arrested 
till  almost  forcing  his  way  into  the  room  of  a  fellow- 
student,  the  late  Dr.  Hill,  he  found  him  reading  the 
Bible.  Attempting  to  sneer  at  this  oddity  in  a  fellow- 
student,  he  was  stung  by  the  reproof  of  the  reply,  and 
found  no  peace  till  he  had  retraced  his  steps  and  found 
peace  in  his  neglected  Saviour.  From  this  moment  he 
broke  loose  from  the  snares  that  surrounded  him,  and 
gave  himself  up  without  reserve  to  the  cause  of  Christ. 
After  his  graduation  in  1789,  he  pursued  the  study 
of  theology  under  Dr.  Hall,  of  North  Carolina.  He 
was  licensed  by  the  Orange  Presbytery,  and  visited 
Kentucky  as  a  missionary  in  1791.  On  July  25,  1793, 
he  was  ordained  pastor  of  Pisgah  and  Clear  Creek 
Churches.  Like  his  brethren  of  this  period  in  Ten- 
nessee, he  carried  his  rifle  and  rode  with  his  holsters, 
for  fear  of  hostile  attack  from  the  Indians.  For  nearly 
forty  years  he  labored  in  this  field,  mainly  in  conncc- 


KENTUCKY,   1775-1800.  415 

tion  with  the  Pisgah  church.  For  a  long  period  lie 
was  a  professor,  and  for  twelve  or  fifteen  years  acting 
President,  of  Transylvania  University.  Subsequently 
he  was  President  of  South  Hanover  College,  in  In- 
diana. 

Almost  at  the  same  time  with  Btythe,  or  shortly 
afterward,  Thomas  Cleland,  John  Poage  Campbell, 
and  Samuel  Rannells  united  with  Transylvania  Pres- 
bytery. Eannells  was  a  native  of  Virginia,  and  a  licen- 
tiate of  the  Presbytery  of  Lexington.  Early  in  1795 
he  visited  Kentucky  as  one  of  the  Synod's  missionaries. 
For  twenty-two  years  he  continued  pastor  of  the 
united  churches  of  Paris  and  Stonermouth.  Zealous 
and  indefatigable,  and  remarkably  gifted  in  prayer,  his 
moderate  abilities  were  made  effective  in  conjunction 
with  a  devoted  piety. 

John  P.  Campbell  was  unquestionably  the  most  bril- 
liant, in  point  of  intellect,  of  the  whole  pioneer  band. 
At  fourteen  years  of  age  he  removed  with  his  father 
to  Kentucky,  and  was  one  of  the  first  of  "  Father" 
Bice's  pupils  in  Transylvania  Grammar-School.  He 
returned  to  Virginia  to  complete  his  studies,  and  at 
the  age  of  nineteen  took  charge  of  an  academy  at 
Williamsburg,  North  Carolina.  At  this  time  he  had, 
unfortunately,  imbibed  infidel  sentiments;  but  he  was 
afterward  converted  by  the  perusal  of  "  Jenyns  on  the 
Internal  Evidences  of  Christianity."  From  this  time 
his  views  were  directed  toward  the  ministry.  In  1790 
he  was  graduated  at  Ilampden-Sidney,  and,  after  study- 
ing with  William  Graham  and  Moses  Hoge,  was  li- 
censed to  preach  in  May,  1792.  After  laboring  a  short 
time  in  Virginia,  he  removed  in  1795  to  Kentucky, 
where  his  first  charge  was  the  churches  of  Smyrna  and 
Flemingsburg,  in  Fleming  county. 

His  subsequent  labors  were  in  the  regions  of  Dan- 
ville, Nicholasville,  Cherry  Spring,  Versailles,  Lexing- 


416  HISTORY    OF    PRESBYTERIANISM. 

ton,  and  Chill ico the.  His  life  was  at  times  one  of 
severe  hardship.  His  salary  was  small  and  insufficient; 
while  his  pride  kept  him  from  disclosing  his  neces- 
sities. 

His  eminent  gifts  forced  him  into  the  position  of  a 
controversialist  in  defence  of  the  Church  at  a  critical 
period  of  her  history.  For  this  post  of  distinction  he 
was  well  fitted.  He  was  an  accurate  and  well-read 
theologian.  His  mind  was  acute  and  discriminating, 
quick  to  unravel  the  fallacies  of  the  sophist  and  detect 
the  weak  points  of  an  adversary.  He  was  a  man  of 
fine  taste;  and  his  style  was  elaborate  and  elegant. 
No  pen  was  so  efficient  as  his  in  the  subsequent  con- 
flict with  the  Arminian  New  Lights,  led  off  by  Stone. 
The  Pelagianism  of  Craighead  was  soon  exposed  by 
his  vigorous  handling.  His  works  on  Baptism,  although 
considered  too  learned  for  popular  use,  were  not  with- 
out their  influence  in  settling  the  views  of  many.  In 
the  pulpit,  a  graceful  and  energetic  elocution,  a  delivery 
not  fluent,  but  animated,  combined  with  solidity  of 
matter  and  grace  of  style  to  give  him  reputation 
in  his  early  ministry.  His  appearance  was  such  as 
well  became  the  orator.  Tall  and  slender  in  person, 
his  deep-set,  dark-blue  eyes,  under  strong  excitement, 
flashed  like  lightning  from  under  his  jutting  forehead. 
Competent  judges  pronounced  him  one  of  the  most 
talented,  popular,  and  influential  ministers  in  the  coun- 
try. With  the  shining  gifts,  he  had  also  the  infirmities, 
of  genius.  His  delicate  nervous  organization  ren- 
dered him  acutely  sensitive  and  easily  irritated.  Ee- 
peatedly  he  changed  his  field  of  labor.  Restless  and 
aspiring,  he  bore  with  some  discontent  the  poverty  he 
was  too  proud  to  confess,  and  could  not  endure  to  yield 
where  his  honor  appeared  to  be  concerned. 

Thomas  Cleland  was  born  in  Maryland,  and  at  an 
early  age   removed  to   Kentucky.     His  religious  im- 


KENTUCKY,    1775-1800.  417 

pressions  were  deepened  under  the  preaching  of  Dr. 
Blythe,  with  whom  he  pursued  his  si  iiolies  at  Pisgah  Aca- 
demy.   Although  occasionally  serving  as  an  exhorter, 

it  was  not  till  1801  that  he  entered  upon  the  active 
labors  of  the  ministry.  From  this  period  his  efforts 
were  largely  blessed.  Several  revivals  took  place 
under  his  ministry,  and  in  connection  with  the  judica- 
tures of  the  Church  his  name  occupied  a  high  rank.1 

In  1795,  Joseph  P.  Howe,  from  North  Carolina,  en- 
tered the  field,  and  was  ordained  over  Little  Mountain 
(Mount  Sterling)  and  Springfield.  A  devoted  man, 
although  of  moderate  abilities,  lie  took  a  conspicuous 
part  in  the  Great  Revival  of  1800.  In  1796,  he  was 
followed  by  James  Welch,  a  missionary  of  the  Synod 
of  Virginia,  afterwrard  ordained  pastor  of  the  Lex- 
ington and  Georgetown  churches.  He  was  afterward 
appointed  Professor  of  Ancient  Languages  in  Transyl- 
vania University. 

In  1797,  John  Lyle  and  Archibald  Cameron  brought 
a  new  accession  of  strength.  Lyle  was  of  Irish  de- 
scent, and  born  in  Rockbridge  county,  Virginia.  He 
labored  on  the  farm  with  his  father,  who,  on  principle, 
would  not  own  slaves.  When  twenty  years  of  age,  he 
was  converted,  and  became  desirous  of  devoting  him- 
self to  the  ministry.  Overcoming  difficulties  that 
would  have  discouraged  others,  he  completed  his  stu- 
dies at  Liberty  Hall  in  1794,  pursued  his  theological 
course  with  William  Graham,  and  was  licensed  by 
Lexington  Presbytery,  April  21,  1796.  For  some  years 
he  labored  as  a  missionary  in  Kentucky,  and  in  1800 
took  charge  of  the  churches  of  Salem  and  Sugar  Ridge, 
in  Clark  county.  Subsequently  he  occupied  other 
fields,  but  was  eminently  efficient  in  promoting  the 
cause  of  education  and   checking   the   excesses  of  the 


See  Life  of  Cleland,  by  his  son. 


418  HISTORY    OF    PRESBYTERIANISM. 

Revival,  which  commenced  almost  contemporaneously 
with  his  removal  to  Kentucky. 

Cameron  was  a  native  of  Scotland,  but  removed 
with  his  father's  family  to  Kentucky  in  1781.  His 
literary  course  was  pursued  at  Transylvania  Seminary 
and  at  Bardstown,  and  his  theological  under  the  charge 
of  "Father"  Rice.  In  1796  or  1797,  he  was  installed 
over  the  churches  of  Akron  and  Fox  Run,  in  Shelby 
county,  and  Big  Spring,  in  Nelson  county.  For  several 
years  his  labors  in  this  region  were  abundant.  Many 
churches  were  organized  and  built  up  under  his  effi- 
cient instrumentality.  With  "  a  mind  cast  in  the  finest 
mould,"  and  possessed  of  a  ripe  scholarship,  he  was 
also  gifted  with  keen  powers  of  satire,  and  in  contend- 
ing for  the  truth  was  remarkably  direct  and  pungent. 
In  his  bluntness  of  manner  he  was  a  John  Knox. 
He  possessed  great  shrewdness  and  independence  of 
thought.  His  extemporaneous  address  was  charac- 
terized by  method,  chasteness,  and  beauty.  In  prayer, 
rich  evangelical  thought  was  blended  with  hallowed 
tenderness  and  devout  elevation  of  heart.  For  nearly 
forty  years  he  pursued  his  course  of  extended  and 
hallowed  labor. 

In  1798,  the  number  of  laborers  was  increased  by 
the  installation  of  Robert  Stuart,  Robert  "Wilson,  and 
John  Howe.  Stuart  was  a  native  of  Rockbridge 
county,  Ya.,  and,  like  his  kinsman  Campbell,  could 
trace  back  his  lineage  to  that  eminent  Scottish  divine, 
Rutherford.  He  was  first  awakened  under  the  preach- 
ing of  Dr.  Alexander,  at  New  Monmouth  Church, 
studied  at  Liberty  Hall,  was  licensed  by  Lexington 
Presbytery  in  1796,  and,  after  performing  missionary 
service  in  Virginia,  directed  his  course  to  Kentucky. 
In  December,  1798,  he  was  appointed  Professor  of  Lan- 
guages in  Transylvania  University,  but  resigned  his 
post  a  few  months  later,  to  establish  a  private  gram- 


KENTUCKY,    1775-1S00.  419 

mar-school  in  Woodford  county.  Quite  a  number  of 
eminent  men  received  their  education  under  his  train- 
ing. In  1803,  he  preached  to  the  Salem  Church,  and 
in  1804  took  charge  of  the  church  of  Walnut  Hill,  six 
miles  east  of  Lexington,  in  connection  with  which  he 
labored  forty  years.  Discreet  and  prudent,  and  some- 
times called  a  "  Moses"  for  his  meekness,  he  was  capa- 
ble, when  occasion  demanded,  of  keen  antagonism  to 
error;  and  the  first  publication  which  stung  the  Uni- 
tarian President  of  Transylvania  University  was  from 
his  pen. 

Wilson,  of  Irish  descent,  was  a  native  of  Virginia. 
Like  Stuart,  he  performed  missionary  labor  in  his 
native  State  before  his  removal  to  Kentucky.  For 
nearly  twenty-five  years  he  was  settled  at  Washing- 
ton, near  Maysville;  and  the  neighboring  churches 
were  greatly  indebted  to  his  exertions. 

John  Howe  was  a  native  of  South  Carolina,  but 
completed  his  studies  at  Transylvania  Seminary.  He 
studied  theology  with  James  Crawford,  and  was  li- 
censed in  1795.  For  several  years  he  preached  alter- 
nately at  Glasgow  and  Beaver  Creek  Churches,  subse- 
quently removing  to  Greensburg,  Green  county.  He 
was  amiable,  unostentatious,  and  useful  and  popular  as 
a  preacher.  Fifty-three  years  of  his  ministry  were 
spent  in  Kentucky.  He  then  removed  to  Missouri, 
where  he  died  in  1856. 

From  the  date  of  this  accession,  the  number  of  minis- 
ters multiplied  rapidly,  although  not  in  proportion  to 
the  demand  made  by  the  increase  of  population.  Be- 
fore the  formation  of  the  Synod,  in  1802,  the  Pres- 
bytery numbered  on  its  list  the  names  of  Samuel 
Robinson,  Samuel  Finley,  James  Vance,  James  Kem- 
per, Samuel  B.  Robertson,  John  Bowman.  John  Thomp- 
son, Matthew  Houston,  John  Dunlavy,  Isaac  Tull, 
William   Mahon,   John    Evans    Finley,    Peter   Wilson, 


420  HISTORY    OP    PRESBYTERIANTSM. 

William  Speer,  James  Balch,  John  Kan  kin,  Samuel 
McAdow,  Samuel  Donnell,  Jeremiah  Abeel,  together 
with  Eobert  G.  Craighead,  James  McGready,  and 
William  McGee.  The  last  three,  with  Bowman  and 
Thompson,  were  from  North  Carolina ;  Houston,  Vance, 
and  Mahon,  from  Virginia;  Tull,  Robinson,  Dunlavy, 
and  McNemar,  from  Pennsylvania ;  and  Finley,  from 
South  Carolina. 

The  field  to  be  occupied  was  large  and  difficult.  It 
extended  over  the  whole  region  west  of  the  moun- 
tains, with  the  exception  of  Tennessee  and  the  field  of 
Bedstone  and  Ohio  Presbyteries.  Northward  it  ex- 
tended beyond  the  Ohio,  and  to  the  east  and  west  its 
respective  boundaries  were  civilization  and  barbarism. 
A  large  population,  in  sparsely-settled  districts,  was 
spread  over  this  vast  area.  The  labor  of  reaching 
them  was  one  of  exceeding  difficulty,  and  added  new 
discouragements  to  itinerant  missionary  labor. 

Nor  was  the  moral  aspect  of  the  field  at  all  inviting. 
The  seeds  of  French  infidelity  had  been  sown  broadcast 
over  it.  Societies  affiliated  with  the  Jacobin  Club  of 
Philadelphia  were'formed  (1793)  at  Lexington,  George- 
town, and  Paris.  Politically,  they  were  violent  and 
dogmatic;  morally,  they  were  corrupting,  and  in  re- 
spect to  religion  utterly  infidel.  The  nomenclature 
of  towns  and  counties  still  attests  the  French  sym- 
pathies of  the  first  settlers.  It  is  quite  significant  of 
the  state  of  social  morals  that  at  this  period  French 
agents  were  able  to  enlist  two  thousand  recruits  within 
the  bounds  of  the  State  to  attack  the  Spanish  posses- 
sions on  the  Mississippi. 

Nor  was  this  all.  Years  had  passed  in  many  settle- 
ments before  they  were  visited  by  a  single  missionary, 
or  were  reminded,  by  his  presence  and  words,  of  reli- 
gious ordinances.  A  backwoods  life  created  an  irre- 
pressible passion  for  excitement.     Lawlessness  largely 


421 

prevailed.  Family  education  and  religion  fell  into  neg- 
lect. The  intense  cupidity  of  the  settlers,  fed  by  con- 
stant speculation,  and  incited  b}*  land-jobbing,  litiga- 
tion, and  feuds  of  various  kinds,  tended  to  social  de- 
moralization. The  variety  of  religious  bodies  on  the 
ground,  each  to  some  extent  at  variance  within  itself, — 
the  Baptists  wrangling  between  Eegulars  and  Sepa- 
rates, and  the  Presbyterians  convulsed  by  the  ques- 
tion of  Psalmody, — greatly  aggravated  the  difficulty. 
Evangelical  effort,  instead  of  presenting  an  unbroken 
front,  was  torn  with  intestine  feuds  and  weakened  by 
division.  The  enemies  of  religion  were  not  slow  to 
take  advantage  of  this  state  of  things.  Jeffersonian 
influence  was  as  strong  west  as  east  of  the  mountains. 
In  1793,  the  services  of  a  chaplain  to  the  Legislature 
were  dispensed  with.  The  measure  was  mainly  signi- 
ficant as  showing  the  influences  which  were  ascendant 
in  high  places.  A  revolution  was  effected  at  the  same 
time  in  the  Transylvania  Seminary  by  placing  at  its 
head  a  disciple  of  Priestley,  and  thus  virtually  alien- 
ating with  utter  contempt  the  early  friends  who  had 
toiled  and  endured  so  much  to  lay  its  foundation  on 
the  basis  of  Christian  truth.  An  apostate  Baptist  min- 
ister was  chosen  Governor  of  the  State.  No  public 
remonstrance  was  raised  in  consequence  of  these  pro- 
ceedings. Before  the  close  of  the  century,  a  decided 
majority  of  the  population  of  the  State  were  reputed 
to  be  infidels.  As  might  naturally  be  expected,  vice 
and  dissipation  attended  this  influx  of  fatal  error. 

It  was  no  easy  task — and  it  required  no  ordinary 
boldness  to  venture — to  stem  the  tide.  It  seemed  to 
roll,  with  irresistible  power  over  the  whole  region. 
The  few  who  should  have  girded  themselves  for  the 
work  were  divided  among  themselves.  The  last  hope 
of  recovering  the  ground  lost  appeared  to  be  fast  dying 
away.      Yet  it  was  at  this  very  crisis  that  a  reaction 

Vol.  I.— 36 


422  HISTORY    OF    PRESBYTERIANISM. 

commenced.  The  Great  Revival,  which  marks  the 
opening  of  the  present  century,  with  all  its  extrava- 
gances and  excesses,  effectually  arrested  the  universal 
tide  of  skepticism  and  irreligion.  It  began  when  reli- 
gion was  at  the  lowest  ebb,  and  spread  over  a  region 
that  to  superficial  view  was  proof  against  its  influence. 


CHAPTER  XX. 

RISE    OF    PRESBYTERIANISM    IN    TENNESSEE,    1775-1800. 

Returning  now  to  the  fountain-head  of  Presbyte- 
rian emigration  in  Virginia,  we  take  note  of  another 
branch  of  the  current,  following  the  line  of  the  Holston. 
In  1785,  Abingdon  Presbytery  was  erected  by  a  divi- 
sion of  the  original  Hanover  Presbytery.  It  embraced 
the  churches  of  Southwestern  Virginia,  and  extended 
so  as  to  include  the  new  settlements  on  the  Holston, 
in  what  is  now  Eastern  Tennessee.  In  1797,  twelve 
years  from  its  formation, — although  Transylvania  Pres- 
bytery was  formed  from  it  in  1786, — it  numbered  thirty- 
six  congregations ;  while  three  others  which  had  been 
under  its  care  had  become  almost,  if  not  quite,  extinct.1 
Of  these,  eleven  were  within  the  State  of  Virginia,  nine- 
teen were  in  Tennessee,  and  seven  were  in  the  western 
part  of  North  Carolina.2  More  than  two-thirds  of  the 
whole  number  were  at  that  time  vacant, — viz. :  New 
Dublin,  Austinville,  Graham's  Meeting-House,  Adam's 
Meeting-House,   Davis's,  Upper    Holston    or    Ebbing 

1  Report  to  General  Assembly,  1797. 

8  Nearly  all,  however,  were  within  the  limits  of  what  is  now  the 
State  of  Tennessee. 


TENNESSEE,    1775-1800.  423 

Spring,  Glade  Spring,  Rock  Spring,  Sinking  Spring, 
Green  Spring,  and  Clinch  Congregation,  in  Virginia; 
Upper  Concord,  New  Providence,  New  Bethel,  Hebron, 
Providence,  Chesnut  Ridge,  Waggoner's  Settlement, 
Charter's  Valley,  Gap  Creek  Congregation,  Pent  Gap 
and  Oil  Creek  Congregations,  Hopewell,  Shunam, 
Lower  Concord,  and  Fork  Congregation,  in  Tennessee  ; 
and  Rimm's  Creek  Congregation,  Mouth  of  Swananoa, 
Head  of  French  Broad,  Tennessee  Congregation,  and 
Grassy  Valley,  in  North  Carolina. 

The  pastors  at  that  time  were  John  Cossan  at  Jones- 
borough,  Samuel  Doak  at  Salem,  Hezekiah  Balch  at 
Mount  Bethel,  James  Balch  at  Sinking  Spring,  Robert 
Henderson  at  Westminster,  Samuel  Carrick  at  Knox- 
ville,  and  Gideon  Blackburn  at  Eusebia  and  New 
Providence. 

The  oldest  of  the  Virginia  congregations,  that  of 
Upper  Holston,  or  Ebbing  Spring,  had  been  in  exist- 
ence for  twenty-five  years,  the  others  for  shorter  pe- 
riods, varying  from  seven  to  twenty.  In  Tennessee, 
those  of  Upper  Concord,  New  Providence,  Salem, 
Mount  Bethel,  and  Charter's  Valley  were  organized  in 
1780  j  New  Bethel,  in  1782;  Providence,  in  1784 ;  Hope- 
well, in  1785;  Chesnut  Ridge,  Sinking  Spring,  New 
Providence,  Pent  Gap,  Oil  Creek,  and  Westminster,  in 
1787;  Fork  Congregation,  Shunam,1  and  Hebron,  in 
1790 ;  Waggoner's  Settlement  and  Lower  Concord,  in 
1791;  Gap  Creek  Congregation,  in  1792;  Knoxville,  in 
1793  ;  and  Jonesborough,  in  1796. 

Meanwhile,  the  Presbytery  of  Transylvania,  formed 
from  that  of  Abingdon  in  1786,  and  consisting  of  five 
members  only  at  the  time  of  its  erection,  had  out- 
grown the  parent  Presbytery,  and  was  last  attaining 
the  dimensions  of  a  Synod.      Its  field   embraced  the 

1  Organized  by  Carrick  perhaps  a  year  or  two  later. 


424  HISTORY    OF    TRESBYTERIANISM. 

new  settlements  in  Kentucky,  and  already  extended 
across  the  Ohio  Eiver.  Abingdon  Presbytery  thus 
marked  the  grand  route  by  which  the  pioneer  columns 
of  the  great  Presbyterian  army  were  moving  on  to 
take  possession  of  the  new  settlements  beyond  the 
mountains. 

At  the  commencement  of  the  French  War,  about 
fifty  families  had  located  on  the  Cumberland  Eiver;  but 
these  were  driven  off  by  the  Indians.  About  the  same 
time  the  Shawnees,  who  had  lived  near  the  Savannah 
Eiver,  emigrated  to  the  banks  of  the  Cumberland  and 
settled  near  the  present  site  of  Nashville ;  but  they  also 
were  driven  away  by  the  Cherokees.  In  1755,  a  num- 
ber of  persons  removed  to  the  west  of  the  present 
bounds  of  North  Carolina,  and  were  the  first  perma- 
nent colonists  of  Tennessee.  By  1773  the  population 
had  considerably  increased;  but  in  1776  the  Cherokees 
were  incited  by  British  agents  to  attack  the  infant 
and  feeble  settlements.  Their  incursions,  however, 
were  repelled,  and  during  the  war  Tennessee  colonists 
hastened  to  join  their  countrymen  east  of  the  moun- 
tains in  repelling  the  attacks  of  the  foe  upon  the 
Southern  States. 

At  the  close  of  the  war,  although  the  dangers  of 
Indian  warfare  were  still  imminent  and  the  settler 
stood  in  constant  fear  of  savage  ferocity,  the  vast  ter- 
ritory sparsely  occupied  by  the  Cherokees  was  too 
inviting  to  be  overlooked  by  pioneer  enterprise ;  and 
the  fair  valley  of  the  Holston  was  specially  attractive. 
A  wilderness  of  two  hundred  miles  intervened  between 
this  region  and  the  Kentucky  settlements;  but  the 
grant  of  military  lands  brought  into  the  bounds  of 
what  now  constitutes  the  State  not  a  few  bold  and 
hardy  men,  who  had  been  schooled  in  peril,  and  to 
whom  the  trials  of  the  wilderness  were  only  a  new 
spur  to  enterprise  and  strange  adventure. 


TENNESSEE,    1775-1800.  425 

Those  who  were  already  on  the  ground — and  they 
Were  largely  composed  of  Presbyterians  from  the  upper 
counties  of  Maryland  und  from  Pennsylvania — were  in 
constant  danger  from  the  hostile  Indian  tribes :  yet,  even 
thus,  they  had  not  been  unmindful  of  the  need  of  gospel 
ordinances.  At  Brown's  Meeting-House,  June  2,  1773, 
a  call  was  presented  to  Hanover  Presbytery  for  the 
services  of  Eev.  Charles  Cummings,  by  the  congrega- 
tions of  Ebbing  Spring  and  Sinking  Spring,  on  the  Hol- 
ston.  It  was  signed  by  one  hundred  and  thirty  heads  of 
families.  The  call  was  accepted ;  and  Mr.  Cummings, 
who  had  labored  for  several  years  in  Augusta,  removed 
to  his  new  field,  as  yet  unoccupied  by  a  single  Presby- 
terian minister,  beyond  the  mountains. 

It  was  amid  strange  scenes  that  the  early  years  of 
his  pastorate  in  this  region  were  passed.  The  Indians 
were  very  troublesome,  and  during  the  summer  months 
the  families  were  compelled,  for  safety,  to  collect  toge- 
ther in  forts.  Once  (1776)  Mr.  Cummings  himself  came 
near  losing  his  life  from  a  hostile  attack.  The  men 
never  went  to  church  except  fully  armed  and  taking 
their  families  with  them.  Mr.  Cummings  did  not  fail 
to  set  an  example  of  precaution.  On  Sabbath  morning 
he  was  wont  to  "put  on  his  shot-pouch,  shoulder  his 
rifle,  mount  his  dun  stallion,  and  ride  off  to  church." 
There  he  met  a  large  congregation,  every  man  of  whom 
had  his  rifle  in  his  hand.  Stripping  off  his  military  ac- 
coutrements and  laying  down  .his  rifle,  the  speaker 
would  preach  two  sermons,  with  a  short  interval  be- 
tween them,  and  the  people  would  disperse.  For  more 
than  thirty  years  this  pioneer  of  Presbyterianism  in 
Tennessee  was  known  and  revered  as  an  exemplary 
Christian  and  a  faithful  pastor.  He  was  "a  John  Knox 
in  zeal  and  energy  in  support  of  his  own  Church."  Be- 
yond the  bounds  of  his  more  immediate  field  he  per 

36* 


426  HISTORY    OF    PRESBYTERIANISM. 

formed  a  great  amount  of  missionary  labor,  the  fruits 
of  which  yet  remain. 

With  the  return  of  peace  the  tide  of  immigration 
commenced  anew.  In  1782,  Adam  Eankin,  whose  name 
is  more  intimately  associated  with  the  history  of  the 
Church  in  Kentucky,  was  licensed  to  preach,  and  soon 
visited  the  region  of  Holston.  But  he  had  been  pre- 
ceded four  years  by  a  man  whose  name  deserves  a  more 
permanent  record.  This  was  Samuel  Doak,  conjointly 
with  Cummings  the  founder  of  the  Presbyterian  Church 
in  East  Tennessee.  Of  Scotch-Irish  descent,  in  a  hum- 
ble but  honorable  condition  of  life,  he  early  resolved  to 
secure  himself  an  education.  With  this  object  in  view, 
he  proposed  to  relinquish  to  his  brothers  his  share  in 
the  patrimonial  inheritance  and  devote  himself  exclu- 
sively to  study.  By  great  self-denial,  he  prepared  him- 
self for  college,  and  in  1775  was  graduated  at  Nassau 
Hall.  After  studying  theology  with  Dr.  Eobert  Smith, 
of  Pequa,  he  accepted  the  office  of  tutor  in  the  then 
new  college  of  Hampden-Sidney.  Here  he  continued 
his  theological  studies,  and  was  licensed  to  preach  by 
the  Presbytery  of  Hanover,  October  31,  1777.  Almost 
immediately  he  directed  his  steps  to  the  Holston  settle- 
ments. The  means  of  subsistence  were  very  scarce,  and 
he  was  under  the  necessity  of  going  thirty  miles  in  the 
direction  of  Abingdon  for  supplies.  His  family  ran 
great  risk  of  being  cut  off  in  the  Indian  War.  Eepeat- 
edly  he  left  his  pulpit  or  his  students  to  repair  to  the 
camp  at  some  hostile  alarm. 

Throughout  his  life,  Dr.  Doak  was  the  devoted  friend 
of  learning  and  religion.  In  1781,  he  was  a  member  of 
the  convention  that  framed  the  Constitution  of  "  the 
ancient  commonwealth  of  Franklin,"  and  secured  in  it 
the  provision  for  a  university.  At  Little  Limestone,  in 
Washington  county,  he  purchased  a  farm,  on  which  he 
built  a  log  house  for  the  purposes  of  education,  and  a 


MHWE88M,    1775-1800.  427 

small  church -edifice,  occupied  by  the  "Salem  congrega- 
tion." This  literary  institution — the  first  that  was  ever 
established  in  the  Mississippi  valley — was  incorporated 
in  1785  as  "  Martin  Academy,"  and  in  1795  it  became 
Washington  College.  Till  1818,  Dr.  Doak  continued  to 
preside  over  it.  Few  men  in  the  history  of  the  Church 
were  better  fitted,  by  wisdom,  sagacity,  energy,  and 
learning,  to  lay  the  foundations  of  social  and  religious 
institutions  than  Dr.  Doak. 

Early  in  1785  he  was  followed  by  a  man  of  kindred 
spirit,  who  was  destined  to  exert  a  vast  influence  upon 
this  growing  region.  This  was  Hezekiah  Balch,  a 
graduate  of  New  Jersey  College  in  the  class  of  1762. 
After  teaching  for  some  years,  he  was  licensed  to  preach 
by  the  Presbytery  of  New  Castle,  and  labored  for  several 
years  as  a  missionary  within  the  bounds  of  Hanover 
Presbytery,  his  field  reaching  from  the  Potomac  in- 
definitely toward  the  Pacific.  After  having  labored 
thus  in  various  localities,  mainly  as  an  itinerant  mis- 
sionary, he  directed  his  course  to  East  Tennessee. 
Here  for  more  than  twenty  years  his  labors  were  abun- 
dant; and  Greenville  College  owes  its  existence  to  his 
exertions.  In  May,  1785,  he  joined  with  Messrs.  Cum- 
mings  and  Doak  in  a  request  to  Synod  that  a  Presby- 
tery might  be  formed  embracing  the  territories  of  the 
present  States  of  Kentucky  and  Tennessee.  The  result 
was  that  the  Abingdon  Presbytery  was  erected, — soon, 
however,  to  be  divided  to  compose  the  new  Kentucky 
Presbytery  of  Transylvania.  Along  with  Doak,  Cum- 
mings,  and  Balch,  the  two  new  members  Cossan  and 
Houston  constituted  the  Presbytery  of  Abington  after 
the  division.  The  last  of  these  (Houston)  had  in  1783 
accepted  a  call  from  the  Providence  congregation  in 
Washington  county;  but  he  labored  in  the  field  for  only 
about  five  years. 

A  valuable  and  efficient  co-laborer  in  the  pioneer  mis- 


428  HISTORY    OP    I'RESBYTERIANISM. 

sionary  work  of  East  Tennessee  was  found  in  a  young 
man  by  the  name  of  Robert  Henderson.  He  was  one 
of  Doak's  pupils  soon  after  Martin  Academy,  in  Wash- 
ington county,  was  opened.  Here  he  pursued  his  course 
preparatory  to  entering  the  ministry.  By  Abingdon 
Presbytery  he  was  licensed  in  or  about  1788,  and  took 
charge  of  the  two  churches  of  Westminster  and  Hope- 
well, the  latter  the  present  county-seat  of  Jefferson 
county.  Here  he  continued  for  more  than  twenty  years; 
and  few  of  his  associates  .exerted  a  more  extensive  or 
permanent  influence.  His  powers  of  address  were  great 
and  varied.  When,  to  use  his  own  language,  conscience 
said,  "Robert  Henderson,  do  your  duty,"  it  mattered 
not  who  composed  his  audience.  !No  man  was  spared; 
and  on  one  memorable  occasion,  when  profanity  was 
his  subject,  and  most  others  would  have  been  overawed 
by  seeing  some  of  the  most  notorious  swearers  in  the 
State  present,  his  delineations,  lashings,  and  denuncia- 
tions are  said  to  have  been  absolutely  terrific.  When 
dealing  with  vice,  he  used  a  whip  of  scorpions.  Yet  his 
moods  were  various, — now  overwhelmingly  solemn,  now 
witty  and  humorous,  and  again  most  severe  and  scath- 
ing. With  a  matchless  power  of  mimicry,  and  a  perfect 
command  of  voice,  countenance,  attitude,  and  gesture, 
his  flashes  of  wit  or  grotesquely  humorous  illustrations 
would  break  from  him  in  spite  of  himself,  convulsing 
with  laughter  an  audience  just  trembling  under  his 
bold,  passionate,  and  at  times  awfully  grand  appeals. 
He  was  aware  of  his  own  infirmity,  and  strove  against 
it;  but  it  gave  him  a  popularity  and  influence  with  the 
masses  such  as  few  others  have  ever  possessed.  Thou- 
sands of  hearers  on  a  single  occasion  would  be  subdued 
and  overwhelmed  by  his  melting  pathos.  A  crowd 
was  sure  to  gather  where  it  was  known  that  he  was  to 
preach ;  and  his  indescribable  earnestness,  emphatic 
tones,  and  bold  and  striking  gestures  wcie  "perfectly 


TENNESSEE,  1775-1800.  429 

Irresistible."  His  longest  sermons — and  they  were  some- 
times very  long — were  heard  without  impatience  to 
their  close.  His  influence  was  felt  less  upon  a  select  few 
than  upon  the  masses;  and  yet  there  were  some  whom 
he  helped  to  train  who  occupy  a  distinguished  place  in 
the  annals  of  the  Presbyterian  churches  of  the  West. 
Among  th.ese  was  Gideon  Blackburn. 

In  some  respects  the  pupil  surpassed  his  teacher. 
With  less  of  the  comic  element  in  his  nature,  and  hold- 
ing it  always  under  perfect  control,  Blackburn  was 
none  the  less  effective.  He  might  be  regarded  as  the 
best  personification  of  backwoods  eloquence.  What  he 
said  to  his  pupils  on  the  subject  of  rhetoric  he  seems 
to  have  practised  himself: — "  There  is  one  rule,  not  laid 
down  in  the  books,  more  important  than  all: — get  your 
head,  heart,  soul,  full  of  3^0111*  subject,  and  then  let  nature 
have  its  own  way,  despising  all  rule."  A  better  illus- 
tration of  the  application  of  the  rule  than  he  himself 
afforded  could  not  be  found.  His  words,  tone,  manner, 
were  most  solemn  and  impressive.  Few  men  owed  less 
to  education  or  art.  He  was  first  a  student  under  Doak 
at  Martin's  Academy,  and  afterward  under  the  training 
of  Henderson.  Like  the  latter,  he  declined  the  use  of 
notes  in  the  pulpit,  uniformly  preferring  the  freedom 
and  effect  of  extemporaneous  effort. 

Nurtured  amid  hardships,  and  early  forced  to  self- 
reliance,  he  was  exactly  fitted  to  the  sphere  of  life  in 
which  his  lot  was  cast.  He  could  preach  in  coat-sleeves 
or  with  his  musket  by  his  side,  and  with  equal  readiness 
in  the  pulpit  or  from  the  stump.  Without  a  dollar  in 
the  world,  and  on  the  very  outskirts  of  civilization, 
amid  the  alarms  of  savage  invasions,  forced  to  accept 
escorts  of  armed  men  from  fort  to  fort,  he  began  his 
work.  But  the  young  preacher  was  daunted  by 
no  fear,  disheartened  by  no  obstacle.  In  1702,  the 
Presbytery  of  Abingdon  had  granted  him  his  license, 


430  HISTORY    OF    PRESBYTERIANISM. 

and  within  a  few  months  he  had  charge  of  the  two  con- 
gregations of  New  Providence  and  Eusebia,  and  had 
organized  several  other  neighboring  churches.  Shortly 
after  this,  with  Carrick,  Kamsey,  and  Henderson,  he 
was  associated  in  the  first  Presbytery  formed  in  the 
part  of  the  country  in  which  he  labored. 

Carrick  was  a  pupil  of  Graham,  at  Augusta,  Ya.,  and 
labored  for  several  years  in  that  State.  In  1791,  he  was 
dismissed  to  the  Abingdon  Presbytery,  and  for  several 
years  had  the  joint  charge  of  the  Knoxville  and  New 
Lebanon  Churches.  In  1800,  he  was  chosen  by  the 
Legislature  President  of  Blount  College.  In  some  re- 
spects he  presented  a  contrast  to  his  associates.  He 
was  of  the  old  Virginia  school  of  ministers,  urbane, 
even  courtly,  in  his  manners,  and  in  the  pulpit  grave, 
dignified,  and  solemn.  His  views  of  divine  truth  were 
clear  and  definite;  and  they  lost  nothing  by  his  mode 
of  exhibiting  them. 

The  description  that  is  left  us1  of  his  reception  in  the 
field  which  was  thenceforth  to  be  the  scene  of  his 
active  labors  for  many  years,  presents  a  graphic  pic- 
ture of  the  early  settlements.  Tradition  reports  that 
in  the  spring  of  1789  a  party  of  hunters  and  land- 
mongers  pitched  their  tent  just  where  the  Lebanon 
church-edifice  now  stands.  The  ancient  forest  still 
overhung  the  spot,  in  all  its  primitive  beauty,  un- 
disturbed by  the  echoes  of  the  woodman's  axe.  The 
oak,  the  poplar,  and  the  elm  lifted  high  above  them 
their  lofty  branches,  "while  the  aroma  of  the  walnut 
and  the  hickory  diffused  around  the  camp  their  delight- 
ful fragrance."  Cedars  and  other  evergreens  were  not 
wanting  to  add  to  the  finished  beauty  of  the  scene. 
Grape-vines,  springing  from  the  virgin  soil,  and  encir- 
cling every  trunk,  spread  themselves  in  lavish  luxu- 

'  Presbyterian  Herald,  Feb.  14,  1861. 


TENNESSEE,    1775-1S00.  431 

riance  among  the  tree-tops,  or,  clustering  together  in 
beautiful  festoons,  formed  a  canopy  and  an  arbor 
around  the  temporary  abode  of  the  backwoodsmen. 
The  whole  surrounding  country  was  carpeted  with 
verdure,  and  the  woods  were  adorned  with  their  richest 
foliage.  With  the  "  upland  solitudes  "  and  "  the  pensive 
beauty  of  the  river-bottoms,"  "  the  scene  was  lovely 
in  the  extreme." 

All  west  of  the  camp  was  one  unbroken  forest,  in 
the  midst  of  which  the  Father  of  Waters  rolled  his 
turbid  tide.  The  pioneers  had  advanced  beyond  the 
last  landmark  of  civilization,  and  before  them  lay 
the  unbroken  wilderness.  Preparing  to  lay  the  found- 
ation of  stable  and  orderly  government,  their  first 
step  was  the  appropriation  of  lands.  Schooled  in  the 
scenes  of  Eevolutionary  conflict,  some  of  them  active 
participants  in  the  perils  of  the  field,  they  yet  retained 
on  the  outskirts  of  civilization  their  love  of  liberty 
regulated  by  law. 

Here,  then,  they  awaited  the  arrival  of  the  surveyor. 
He  lived  in  the  older  settlements,  on  Limestone,  in 
Washington  county.  On  his  arrival,  he  received  a 
cordial  greeting  and  a  hearty  welcome  to  the  civilities 
of  the  camp.  He  found  the  party  all  clad  in  domestic 
fabrics,  the  product  of  their  own  industry,  each  wear- 
ing the  hunting-shirt  and  each  armed  with  his  trusty 
rifle.  The  first  salutations  over,  inquiries  were  imme- 
diately made  for  the  latest  news  from  the  older  settle- 
ments, and,  among  others,  what  new  settlers  had  come 
in.  To  the  last  inquiry  the  surveyor  replied  by  enu- 
merating the  new  emigrants,  and  among  others  men- 
tioned the  arrival  on  Limestone  of  a  Presbyterian 
minister  by  the  name  of  Samuel  Carrick. 

The  little  party  were  electrified  by  this  intelligence, 
and  clustered  around  their  informant,  manifesting  by 
their  demeanor  the  most  exciting  interest  and  intense 


432  HISTORY   OF   PRESBYTERIANISM. 

curiosity.  Most,  perhaps  all,  of  them  were  the  sons 
of  pious  parents, — children  of  the  Covenant, — in  the 
older  country  had  known  the  Sabbath  and  appreciated 
its  privileges, — had  bowed  in  prayer  or  swelled  with 
their  own  voices  the  notes  of  praise, — had  listened  to 
the  preached  word  and  had  been  impressed  by  its 
truth.  Yielding  to  the  promptings  of  a  restless  spirit 
of  enterprise  and  adventure,  they  had  forsaken  the 
altar  and  the  fireside,  and  had  thrown  themselves 
amid  the  rough  scenes  and  rude  social  elements  of  the 
Western  frontier.  Here,  surrounded  by  heedless,  if 
not  vicious,  associates,  they  had  become  habituated  to 
Sabbath-desecration,  if  not  to  scenes  of  immorality 
and  vice.  Most  of  them  were  now  heads  of  families, 
and  identified  with  all  the  industrial  and  social  inte- 
rests of  the  new  community  of  which  they  formed  a 
part.  Their  children  were  growing  up  around  them 
unbaptized,  and  in  destitution  of  religious  privileges. 
In  these  circumstances,  the  scenes  of  their  own  youth 
were  revived  with  peculiar  freshness ;  conscience  was 
aroused,  and  memory  recalled  the  Sabbath,  the  cate- 
chism, the  school-house,  the  ministry,  and  the  ordi- 
nances of  other  days. 

Thus  recalling  the  past,  the  enterprise  and  objects 
of  the  present — staff,  compass,  land-warrant,  and  entry 
— were  for  the  moment  forgotten,  and  they  deter- 
mined to  appoint  a  day  on  which  the  strange  minister 
should  be  invited  to  preach  in  these  new  settlements. 
The  day  was  fixed  •  the  spot  was  selected, — an  Indian 
mound  near  the  confluence  of  the  two  rivers, — the 
Fork.  The  surveyor  bore  back  on  his  return  the  in- 
vitation to  Mr.  Carrick.  He  accepted  it,  and,  by  a 
strange  coincidence,  Hezekiah  Balch  chanced  also  to  be 
present  on  the  same  occasion.  To  the  latter,  as  the 
older  man,  Mr.  Carrick  courteously  yielded  the  prece- 
dence, and,  after  the  sermon,  remarked  that  he  had 


TENNESSEE,  1775  1800.  433 

selected  the  same  subject  and  the  same  text,  and,  as 
the  subject  was  not  and  could  not  be  exhausted,  be 
would  pursue  the  theme.  Tradition  reports  that  the 
text  was,  "  We  then  are  ambassadors  for  Christ,"  &c. 

Attracted  by  the  importance  as  well  as  the  novelty 
of  the  occasion,  an  immense  crowd  attended  this  first 
religious  meeting  held  in  all  the  region.  Some  came 
from  what  are  now  Sevier  and  Blount  counties,  armed 
with  guns  to  defend  themselves  from  the  possible  attack 
of  the  Cherokees.  Parents  brought  their  children  with 
them  in  order  that  they  might  be  baptized.  It  was 
soon  after  this  that  Mr.  Carrick — universally  acceptable 
as  a  preacher — commenced  his  labors  as  a  pastor  of  the 
Lebanon  Church  in  conjunction  with  Knoxville.1  The 
former  he  retained  till  1803.2 

Ramsey  was  the  last  of  the  little  band  composing 
the  new  Presbytery,  to  reach  the  Western  field.  He, 
too,  was  a  pupil  of  Graham  of  Virginia,  and  soon  after 
his  licensure,  in  1795,  extended  his  missionary  tour  to 
the  "  Southwestern  Territory." 

As  he  went  from  house  to  house  in  the  frontier  settle- 
ments of  Knox  county,  near  which  a  brother  of  his 
had  resided  for  several  years,  he  found  the  people 
anxious  to  enjoy  the  privileges  of  the  gospel.  At  each 
cabin  a  hearty  welcome  greeted   him,  and   a  cordial 

1  The  first  church  in  Knoxville  was  never  regularly  organized. 
Carrick,  after  preaching  at  the  Fork,  began  to  preach  a  part  of  his 
time  in  Knoxville  (1793-1794),  and  at  a  later  date  to  administer  the 
ordinances.  The  elders  of  the  Fork  assisted,  and  subsequently 
acted  a«  elders  in  Knoxville. — Dr.  McCampbell,  in  the  Presbyterian 
Herald,  Feb.  1861. 

2  "  The  first  Sabbath  I  spent  in  Tennessee,"  says  Dr.  John 
McCampbell,  "was  in  the  Fork  Church,  July,  1803.  There  was  no 
minister  present  on  that  day.  The  exercises  of  public  worship 
were  as  follows: — two  sermons  were  read,  one  by  Col.  F.  A.  Ram- 
sey, the  other  by  Archibald  Rhea.  Four  prayers  were  offered,  with 
singing." 

Vol.  I.- -37 


434  HISTORY    OF    PRESBYTERIANISM. 

wish  was  expressed  that  the  young  man  would  remain 
in  the  country  and  organize  churches  in  the  wilder- 
ness. He  went  from  fort  to  fort  and  station  to  station, 
preaching  to  multitudes  who  had  not  for  years  heard 
a  Presbyterian  sermon.  Thousands  came  out  to  listen 
to  the  strange  minister.  They  followed  him  from  place 
to  place,  and  hung  in  rapt  attention  upon  his  lips. 
Young  Ramsey  felt  that  he  was  not  at  liberty  to  neglect 
the  Macedonian  cry  that  followed  him  from  the  Western 
wilderness  back  to  Virginia.  In  1797,  he  returned  to 
Tennessee,  and  settled  at  Mount  Ebenezer,  eleven  miles 
west  of  Knoxville.  Here  he  extended  his  labors  over 
a  vast  surrounding  region,  ministering  to  several  con- 
gregations, and  tasking  his  powers  to  the  utmost,  till 
he  sank  under  his  burden.  Gentle,  winning,  concilia- 
tory, and  prudent,  he  bound  his  people  to  himself  by 
the  strongest  ties,  while  his  whole  course,  eminently  un- 
selfish and  self-denying,  commanded  universal  respect. 

Such  were  the  men  who  led  the  way  in  planting  the 
Presbyterian  Church  in  Tennessee.  Of  varied  gifts, 
untiring  zeal,  and  entire  consecration  to  their  work, 
they  were  eminently  successful.  Under  their  eyes  and 
by  their  hands  the  foundations  of  the  Church  were 
firmly  laid  in  a  new  region,  where  it  was  to  be  widely 
extended. 

Yet  this  early  period  was  not  without  its  peculiar 
trials.  The  Presbytery  of  Abingdon  was  connected 
with  the  Synod  of  the  Carolinas ;  and  the  attention  of 
the  latter  was  repeatedly  called  to  questions  gene- 
rating strife  and  division  that  had  risen  west  of  the 
mountains.  Hezekiah  Balch  was  a  decided  Hopkinsian. 
He  had  visited  New  England,  and  from  the  lips  of  the 
very  author  of  the  "  New  Divinity"  had  heard  his  views 
expounded.  These  views  commended  themselves  to 
his  own  mind,  and  he  was  charged  with  saying  that 
he  was  "  fifty  thousand  times  stronger"  in  his  peculiar 


435 

belief  "  than  he  was  before  be  went  away."  His  only 
objection  to  the  charge  was  that  it  was  not  strong 
enough  :  the  fifty  thousand  should  have  been  five  hun- 
dred thousand. 

Some  of  his  church,  as  well  as  of  his  ministerial  breth- 
ren, were  greatly  dissatisfied.  They  complained  of  his 
Hopkinsianism  and  kindred  errors,  as  they  regarded 
them.  All  this,  however,  did  not  constitute  his  real 
crime.  There  were  others  who  held  Hopkinsian  views, 
and  some  who  were  far  more  eminent  in  the  Presby- 
terian Church  than  Mr.  Balch.  But  he  was  indiscreet. 
His  convictions  were  strong,  his  feelings  ardent,  and 
he  acted  often  from  impulse  rather  than  judgment.  In 
his  own  congregation  some  unwise  measures  had  been 
adopted  which  brought  him  into  variance  with  his  Ses- 
sion. Suits  at  law  were  threatened  against  him.  A 
new  Session  was  constituted,  and  Presbytery  and  Synod 
had  to  interfere  repeatedly  to  restore  peace.  Yet  none 
could  question  the  piety,  or  Christian  spirit  generally, 
of  Mr.  Balch.  His  labors  were  unremitting  and  efficient 
in  promoting  the  cause  of  religion  and  learning.  His 
journey  to  New  England  was  more  to  collect  funds  for 
his  college  than  to  listen  to  the  apostle  of  the  New 
Divinity.  But  he  had  a  strong  propensity  to  overlook 
consequences;  and  it  was  not  his  nature  to  consult  pru- 
dence. 


43G  HISTORY    OF    PRESBYTERIANISM. 


CHAPTEE  XXI. 

GENERAL  ASSEMBLY,  1800-1815. 

The  commencement  of  the  present  century  opened  a 
new  era  in  the  history  of  the  American  Presbyterian 
Church.  A  revived  missionary  spirit  gave  enlarged 
scope  and  increased  energy  to  its  operations.  Almost 
simultaneously,  in  New  York,  Pennsylvania,  and  New 
England,  missionary  societies  were  formed  to  extend  to 
the  frontier  settlements  and  among  the  Indian  tribes 
the  knowledge  of  the  gospel.  Of  these  the  New  York 
Missionary  Society  took  the  lead.  It  was  formed  Nov. 
1, 1796.  A  few  months  later,  the  Northern  Missionary 
Society,  embracing  the  region  in  Northern  New  York, 
was  organized.  In  May,  1797,  the  Connecticut  General 
Association  formed  itself  into  a  missionary  society 
The  Massachusetts  Society  was  formed  in  the  following 
year.  Almost  contemporary  was  the  Berkshire  and 
Columbia  Missionary  Society ;  and  in  1802,  the  Western 
Missionary  Society  at  Pittsburg  commenced  operations. 
But  for  the  alarm  occasioned  by  the  presence  of  the 
yellow  fever  in  Philadelphia,  a  kindred  society  would 
have  been  formed  there  in  1798. x 

The  effect  of  this  newly-enkindled  missionary  zeal, 
extending  to  different  denominations,  was  to  promote 
fraternal  feeling  and  hearty  co-operation.  The  New 
York  Society  sustained  for  a  period  a  Baptist  mission- 
ary to  the  Indians  of  Central  New  York,  whom  the 

1  Dr.  Green's  letter,  in  the  N.  Y.  Miss.  Mag.,  i.  110. 


GENERAL    ASSEMBLY,    1S00-1S15.  437 

churches  of  his  own  order  were  too  feeble  to  support. 
In  the  plan  for  social  prayer  adopted  (Jan.  is,  I798)by 

the  directors  of  the  society,  the  second  Wednesday  ©ven- 
ing  of  every  month  was  appointed  to  be  observed  as  a 
season  for  concert  of  prayer,  and  the  meetings  were  to 
be  held  in  rotation  in  the  Eeformed  Dutch,  Presbyterian, 
and  Baj>tist  churches.  The  General  Assembly  partook 
largely  of  this  fraternal  and  co-operative  spirit.  This 
is  manifest  in  the  "plan  for  correspondence  and  inter- 
course" between  the  Presbyterian,  Eeformed  Dutch, 
and  Associate  Eeformed  Churches,  which  was  adopted 
by  the  Assembly  of  1799.  In  this,  "the  communion  of 
particular  Churches,  the  friendly  interchange  of  minis- 
terial services,  and  a  correspondence  of  the  several 
judicatories  of  the  conferring  Churches"  were  recom- 
mended, and  the  report  favoring  it  was  unanimously 
adopted  by  the  Assembly.1 

Nor  was  this  all.  The  wants  of  the  mission-field  al- 
ready opened  to  Christian  effort  in  New  York  and  Ohio 
demanded  the  united  efforts  of  Presbyterians  and  Con- 
gregationalists.  The  Connecticut  Association  had  re- 
solved itself  into  a  missionary  society,  and  its  mission- 
aries were  already  to  be  found  in  friendly  co-operation 
with  the  ministers  sent  out  by  the  Assembly  to  itine- 
rate through  Central  and  Western  New  York.  It  was 
of  the  highest  importance  that  there  should  be  no  de- 
nominational conflict  or  collision.  The  claims  of  mis- 
sionary evangelization  were  felt  by  both  parties  to  be 
paramount  to  all  denominational  interests.  With  the 
best  intentions,  and  "  with  a  view  to  prevent  aliena- 
tion and  promote  union  and  harmony  in  these  new  set- 
tlements, which  are  composed  of  inhabitants  from  these 
bodies,"  the  General  Association  of  Connecticut  pro- 
posed to  the  General  Assembly  of   1801   "a  plan  op 

1  Rejected,  however,  by  the  other  bodies. 

37* 


438  HISTORY    OF    PRESBYTERIANISM. 

union."  This  plan  strictly  enjoined  "  mutual  forbear- 
ance and  accommodation."  It  allowed  a  Congrega- 
tional church  to  settle  a  Presbyterian  pastor,  reserving 
to  him  the  privilege  of  appeal  to  Presbytery  or  to  a 
mutual  council  equally  composed  of  Presbyterians  and 
Congregationalists.  In  case  a  Presbyterian  church  set- 
tled a  Congregational  pastor,  he  might  (appeal  to,  or) 
be  tried  by  his  Association,  or  a  mutual  council  equally 
constituted  of  both  denominations.  In  a  Congrega- 
tional church,  the  body  of  the  male  communicants  of 
the  church  constituted  the  virtual  Session ;  yet  here 
the  appeal  might  be  to  a  mutual  council  or  to  Presby- 
tery, in  which  the  delegate  of  the  church  should  have 
the  right  to  sit  and  act  as  a  ruling  elder. 

Exception  might  have  been  taken  to  the  irregular 
constitution  of  inferior  judicatories  in  which  these  prin- 
ciples should  be  adopted  and  allowed  to  prevail;  but  no 
objection  was  urged.  It  was  felt  that  the  strictness  of 
ecclesiastical  forms  should  be  held  subordinate  to  the 
higher  objects  of  Christian  effort,  and  that  to  sacrifico 
the  last  to  the  first  would  be  but  to  "  tithe  mint,  anise,  and 
cummin,"  against  the  "  weightier  matters  of  the  law."1 

1  [There  was  no  such  diversity  of  views  or  ecclesiastical  prefer- 
ences as  to  justify  collision  or  to  excite  mutual  suspicions  between 
the  two  bodies ;  and  every  Christian  principle  demanded  just  that 
co-operation  which  the  Plan  of  Union  secured.  In  proof  of  this, 
we  quote  the  following  statement  of  views  and  polity. 

In  1799,  the  Hartford  North  Association  of  Ministers,  composed 
of  such  men  as  Drs.  Strong  and  Flint,  of  Hartford,  and  Dr.  Perkins, 
of  West  Hartford,  made  the  following  declaration  of  their  princi- 
ples : — 

"  This  Association  give  information  to  all  whom  it  may  concern, 
that  the  constitution  of  the  churches  in  the  State  of  Connecticut, 
founded  on  the  common  usages,  and  the  Confession  of  Faith,  Heads 
of  Agreement,  and  articles  of  Church  Discipline,  adopted  at  the 
earliest  period  of  the  settlement  of  the  State,  is  not  Congregational, 
but  contains  the  essentials  of  the  government  of  the  Church  of  Scotland, 


GENERAL   ASSEMBLY,  1800-1818.  439 

Such  were  the  feelings  of  the  time.  No  one  called  in 
question  the  wisdom  of  the  plan  till  experience  had  re- 
vealed    its    defects.      The    next    fifteen    years    were    to 


or  [the]  Presbyterian  Church  in  America;  particularly  as  it  gives  a 
decisive  power  to  ecclesiastical  councils  ;  and  a  Consociation,  consist- 
ing of  ministers  and  messengers,  or  a  lay  representation  from  the 
churches,  is  possessed  of  substantially  the  same  authority  as  Pres- 
bytery. The  judgments,  decisions,  and  censures  in  our  churches 
and  in  the  Presbyterian  are  mutually  deemed  valid.  The  churches, 
therefore,  in  Connecticut  at  large,  and  in  our  district  in  particular,  are 
not  now,  and  never  were,  from  the  earliest  period  of  our  settlement,  Con- 
gregational churches,  according  to  the  ideas  and  forms  of  church  order 
contained  in  the  Book  of  Discipline  called  the  Cambridge  Plat- 
form. There  are,  however,  scattered  over  the  State  perhaps  ten  or 
twelve  churches  [unconsociated)  which  are  properly  called  Congre- 
gational, agreeably  to  the  rules  of  church  discipline  in  the  book 
above  mentioned.  Sometimes,  indeed,  the  associated  Churches  of 
Connecticut  are  loosely  and  vaguely,  though  improperly,  termed 
Congregational.  While  our  Churches  in  the  State  at  large  are,  in 
the  most  essential  and  important  respects,  the  same  as  the  Presby- 
terian, still  in  minute  and  unimportant  points  of  church  order  and 
discipline  both  we  and  the  Presbyterian  Church  in  America  acknow- 
ledge a  difference."]  F. 

The  fact,  is  also  stated  (Am.  Quar.  Reg.,  Aug.  1839)  that  in  1790, 
by  the  General  Association  of  Connecticut,  "a  further  union  with 
Presbyterians  was  declared  to  be  expedient,"  and  a  committee  of 
correspondence  was  appointed  for  the  accomplishing  of  this  object. 

For  many  years  after  the  adoption  of  the  Plan  of  Union,  the  dis- 
position to  favor  the  Presbyterian  system  continued.  The  action  of 
the  General  Association  in  repeated  instances  is  quite  decisive  on 
this  point,  to  say  nothing  of  the  avowed  sentiments  of  many  of  the 
leading  ministers  of  the  State.  In  1812,  the  question  of  the  mutual 
relation  of  pastor  and  people  was  brought  up  for  discussion  in  con- 
nection with  the  subject  of  the  frequent  changes  and  removal  of 
pastors;  and  among  other  conclusions  was  the  following  :  —  "  that  this 
scheme  of  settling  a  minister  places  the  dissolution  of  the  contract 
between  him  and  his  parishioners  chiefly  in  the  power  of  the  con- 
tracting parties,  and  to  a  great  extent  removes  it  from  under  the 
control  of  an  ecclesiastical  council ;   that,  in  consequence  of  this  fact, 


440  HISTORY    OP   PRESBYTERIANISM. 

decide  grave  questions  in  regard  to  the  destiny  of  the 
country  as  well  as  the  prospects  of  the  Presbyterian 
Church.  An  unexampled  emigration  from  the  settled 
regions  of  the  East  was  to  pour  westward,  swelled  on 
its  course  by  heterogeneous  elements  from  other  lands. 
The  combined  influence  and  effort  of  all  who  loved  the 
cause  common  to  Presbyterians  and  the  churches  of 
New  England  was  necessary  to  control  the  current,  or 
direct  it  in  the  channels  of  sobriety  and  religion.  With 
unprecedented  rapidity,  new  cities  and  villages  were 
to  spring  up  in  the  forest  and  along  the  lines  of  traffic, 
for  whose  urgent  necessities  of  missionary  and  pastoral 
labor  both  denominations  united  would  be  tasked  to 
furnish  a  supply.  The  time  of  conflict  had  come.  The 
great  struggle  of  the  century — to  shape  the  future  des- 
tiny of  a  growing  nation — had  commenced.  It  forbade 
all  minor  dissension,  and  demanded  the  hearty  co-opera- 
tion, on  broad  principles,  of  all  who  loved  the  common 
cause. 

The  very  spirit  of  the  occasion  did  much  to  win  the 
battle.  With  the  adoption  of  the  "  Plan  of  Union,"  a 
new  vigor  seemed  to  pervade  the  Church.  On  all  sides 
there  was  progress.  The  very  next  year  after  the  adop- 
tion of  the   Plan   (1802),  the   General  Assembly  was 


the  bands  of  ecclesiastical  discipline  will  (we  think)  be  gradually 
loosened,  and  the  solemn  business  of  placing  a  minister  over  a  con- 
gregation, and  of  committing  them  to  his  charge,  be  finally  left  in 
the  hands  of  the  contracting  parties,  in  direct  contradiction,  as  we 
apprehend,  to  the  order  of  Christ's  house." 

In  the  following  year  it  was  decided  that  a  member  of  Associa- 
tion dismissed  from  his  pastoral  relation  was  still  responsible  to 
the  Association,  and  that  "no  dismissed  minister  shall  be  accounted 
at  liberty  of  himself  to  lay  aside  the  ministerial  office,  or  to  dis- 
solve his  connection  with  the  Association."  These  are  but  speci- 
mens of  the  tone  of  ecclesiastical  sentiment  in  Connecticut. — Conn. 
Ev.  Mag.,  1812,  1813. 


GENERAL   ASSEMBLY,    1800-1S15.  441 

called  to  divide  the  Presbytery  of  Albany  into  the  three 
Presbyteries  of  Albany,  Columbia,  and  Oneida,  which 
were  in  1803  constituted  the  Synod  of  Albany.  Two 
years  later,  the  Presbytery  of  Oneida  was  divided  and 
the  Presbytery  of  Geneva  was  erected. 

In  1807,  the  Synod  of  Albany  expressed  their  readi- 
ness— with  the  approbation  of  the  Assembly — to  form 
as  intimate  a  connection  with  the  Middle  Association 
(Congregational)  of  the  Military  Tract  as  the  Consti- 
tution of  the  Presbyterian  Church  would  admit,  inviting 
them  to  become  a  constituent  branch  of  the  Synod, 
and  assuring  them  of  the  disposition  of  the  Synod  to 
leave  their  churches  undisturbed  in  the  administration 
of  their  own  government  until  they  should  be  better 
acquainted  with  the  Presbyterian  mode  and  voluntarily 
adopt  it.  Delegates  from  the  churches  should  be  re- 
ceived as  ruling  elders,  and  they,  as  well  as  ministers, 
on  "adopting  our  standard  of  doctrine  and  govern- 
ment," might  sit  and  vote  as  a  constituent  part  of  the 
body.  This  plan  was  sanctioned  by  the  Assembly  of 
1808;  and  the  Middle  Association,  and  Presbytery  of 
Geneva,  covering  in  part  the  same  ground,  wrere  sub- 
sequently constituted,  with  some  interchange  of  mem- 
bers, the  Presbyteries  of  Geneva  and  Onondaga.  The 
liberal  spirit  of  the  Assembly,  accordant  with  the 
"Plan  of  Union,"  is  evinced  by  their  sanction  of  this 
kindred  measure. 

In  obtaining  an  act  of  incorporation,  which  was  se- 
cured in  1799,  and  which  authorized  the  possession  of 
property  yielding  not  over  ten  thousand  dollars  annual 
income,1  exclusive  of  annual  collections  and  voluntary 
contributions,  the  Assembty  had  in  view  the  import- 
ance of  securely  holding  an  amount  of  property  which 
should  suffice  as  a  fund  for  missionary  purposes.     This 

i  Minutes  of  1790-1820,  p.  175. 


442  HISTORY   OF   PRESBYTERIANISM. 

project  was  first  brought  forward  in  the  Assembly  of 
1791. *  It  was  recommended  that  a  permanent  fund 
should  be  raised,  and  the  several  Presbyteries  were 
enjoined  to  take  effectual  measures  to  secure  annual 
collections  from  their  churches  for  this  object.  The 
amount  collected  for  several  succeeding  years  exceeded 
what  was  required  for  the  payment  of  the  missionaries 
annually  employed ;  and  upon  the  examination  of  re- 
ports of  agents  for  soliciting  donations,  it  was  found,  in 
1801,  that  the  Assembly  held  to  its  credit  the  sum  of 
twelve  thousand  three  hundred  and  fifty-nine  dollars 
and  ninety-two  and  a  half  cents.  This  was,  by  the  de- 
cision of  the  Assembly,  to  be  regarded  as  capital  stock, 
which  should  "  at  no  time  be  broken  in  upon  or  dimi- 
nished," but  invested  in  secure  and  permanent  funds. 
The  interest  of  these,  only,  was  to  be  employed  for  the 
support  of  missions. 

In  1805,  the  Committee  of  Missions  were  recom- 
mended to  publish,  by  subscription,  a  periodical  maga- 
zine "  sacred  to  religion  and  morals,"  and  pay  the  profits 
into  the  funds  of  the  Assembly,  to  be  applied  to  mis- 
sionary purposes.2  The  work  was  commenced,  and  the 
ministers  within  the  bounds  of  the  Church  were  re- 
peatedly urged  to  contribute  to  its  columns;  but  the 
project  failed,  and  the  publication  of  the  magazine  was 
suspended  in  January,  1810.3 

The  success  of  the  Connecticut  Missionary  Society 
in  carrying  out  a  similar  project  led  the  Assembly  to 
overlook  the  greater  difficulties  which  they  would  have 
to  encounter.  That  society,  while  diffusing  religious 
intelligence  by  means  of  its  "  Evangelical  Magazine," 
had  secured  annually,  as  profits  of  the  enterprise,  a  sum 
ranging  from  thirteen  hundred  dollars  to  over  two 
thousand   dollars,  which  was  devoted  to  the  purposes 

»  Minutes,  1790-1820,  pp.  38,  40.       2  lb.  317.        3  lb.  450. 


GENERAL  ASSEMBLY,  1800-1815.  443 

of  the  society.  With  such  economy  and  success  was 
the  plan  managed,  that  the  permanent  fund  in  the 
course  of  a  few  years  amounted  to  more  than  thirty 
thousand  dollars ;  and  in  some  years,  when  collections 
were  not  secured  from  the  churches,  the  interest  of  the 
fund  and  the  profits  of  the  magazine  sufficed  to  provide 
for  the  support  of  the  missionaries  employed.  For 
several  years  the  Assembly  prosecuted  a  kindred  policy; 
but  the  rapid  extension  of  the  mission-field  soon  baffled 
every  attempt  to  supply  it  by  means  of  the  interest  of 
a  permanent  fund. 

There  seemed  more  feasibility  in  the  plan  which  the 
Assembly  proposed  (1800)  in  behalf  of  ministerial  edu- 
cation. This  was  intended  to  secure  a  fund  which  should 
suffice  to  provide  candidates  for  the  ministry  with  the 
necessary  means  for  a  partial  or  entire  support.  In 
each  Synod  a  theological  professor  might  be  appointed, 
to  whom  students  should  be  at  liberty  to  resort,  and 
who  should  receive  from  the  fund  a  moderate  com- 
pensation.1 But  this  plan  was  ere  long  deranged  by 
the  adoption  of  the  Seminary  system  of  instruction, 
which  left  only  the  support  of  the  student  in  his  course 
of  study  to  be  provided  for. 

In  1802,  a  change  was  made  by  the  Assembly  in  its 
method  of  conducting  its  missionary  operations.  Ex- 
perience had  shown  that  to  give  to  these  system  and 
efficiency  it  was  necessary  that  they  should  be  put  in 
the  charge  of  men  who  should  not  only  be  empowered 
to  act  during  the  intervals  of  meetings  of  Assembly,  but 
who  should  give  the  subject  careful  attention  and  be 
so  situated  as  to  have  frequent  opportunities  of  mutual 
conference.  It  was  therefore  resolved  that  a  commit- 
tee be  chosen  annually,  to  be  denominated  the  "  Stand- 
ing Committee  of  Missions."     It  was  originally  to  con- 

i  Minutes,  1790-1820,  p.  196. 


444  history  or  PRESBYTERIANISM. 

sist  of  seven  members, — four  ministers  and  three  laymen 
but  in  1805,  on  the  suggestion  of  the  committee  itself, 
its  numbers  were  increased  by  the  addition  of  five  more 
members  from  Philadelphia  and  its  vicinity,  and  one 
member  from  each  of  the  seven  Synods  constituting 
the  Church.  It  was  made  the  duty  of  the  committee 
"  to  collect,  during  the  recess  of  the  Assembly,  all  the 
information  in  their  power  relative  to  the  concerns  of 
missions  and  missionaries j"  to  digest  this  information, 
and  report  thereon  at  each  meeting  of  the  Assembly ; 
to  maintain  such  a  correspondence  on  the  subject  of 
missions  as  the  cause  might  require,  and  make  such 
suggestions  or  arrangements  as  should  enable  the  As- 
sembly to  act  intelligently  in  its  appointments;  and,  in 
fact,  to  "  superintend  generally,  under  the  direction  of 
the  Assembly,  the  missionary  business."  It  was  not  till 
1816  that  the  style  of  the  committee  was  changed  to 
that  of  the  "  Board  of  Missions"  and  it  was  authorized 
to  act  with  a  large  measure  of  independence. 

The  appointment  of  the  committee  (1802)  was  contem- 
poraneous with  a  revived  zeal  in  the  cause  of  missions 
throughout  the  bounds  of  the  Church.  The  Synod  of 
Pittsburg  began  its  existence  (1802)  as  a  missionary 
body,  assuming  the  name  of  the  Western  Missionary 
Society.  Its  attention  was  directed  largely  to  the  new 
settlements  northwest  of  the  Ohio,  and  to  methods  for. 
christianizing  the  Wyandotte  Indians.  The  latter  por- 
tion of  their  project  was  interrupted  bjT  the  war,  and 
the  burning  of  the  mission-premises;  but  on  the  con- 
clusion of  peace  the  plan  of  an  Indian  mission  was  re- 
sumed, and  for  some  years  received  aid  annually  from 
the  funds  of  the  Assembly.  Among  the  new  settle- 
ments tying  properly  within  its  own  bounds  or  those 
of  the  Synod  of  Kentucky,  its  missionaries  were  dili- 
gently employed,  sometimes,  however,  receiving  their 
compensation  from  the  Connecticut  Missionary  Society, 


GENERAL    ASSEMBLY,    1300-1315.  445 

who  could  secure  funds  more  readily  than  men  for  the 
distant  field. 

The  Synod  of  Virginia,  at  the  same  time,  prosecuted 
the  mission  work  within  its  own  limits,  but  with  a 
marked  decline  of  energy  after  the  erection  of  the 
Synod  of  Pittsburg  within  its  original  bounds.  For 
several  years  it  had  only  from  three  to  five  mission- 
aries in  the  field, — one  of  these  to  .its  own  black  popu- 
lation. 

In  1802,  before  the  erection  of  the  Synod  of  Pitts- 
burg, its  report  showed  that  it  had  sent  nine  mission- 
aries to  the  west  of  the  Alleghanies,  three  of  whom 
visited  the  Shawanese  and  other  Indians  about  Detroit 
and  Sandusky.  In  1807,  when  the  Indian  Mission  had 
passed  under  the  care  of  the  Pittsburg  Synod,  and  the 
missionary  zeal  of  the  Virginia  churches  had  some- 
what abated,  the  Synod  wished  to  resign  their  mission- 
ary business  into  the  hands  of  the  Assembly;  but  the 
latter  declined  to  accept  the  trust. 

In  1803,  the  newly-formed  Synod  of  Kentucky  stated 
to  the  Assembly  that  the  missionary  field  on  their  fron- 
tier was  "  so  extensive  and  promising  that  the  Synod 
find  themselves  inadequate  to  the  demand."  They 
asked  that  the  Assembly  "  take  the  business  under  their 
own  care  and  direction."  The  request  was  granted, 
and  the  destitutions  of  the  Synod  thenceforth  received 
the  attention  of  the  Assembly  in  its  annual  appoint- 
ments. 

The  Synod  of  the  Carolinas,  from  the  time  of  its 
erection,  had  given  special  attention  to  the  subject  of 
missions.  Among  its  ministers  were  some  who  rank 
among  the  foremost  and  most  efficient  in  this  field  of 
Christian  enterprise.  The  Synod  continued  its  efforts 
till  the  amount  of  its  own  immediate  destitution  forced 
it  (1812)  to  resign  the  charge  of  missions  to  the  care 
of  the  Assembly. 

Vol.  I.— 33 


446  HISTORY    OF   PRESBYTERIANISM. 

Meanwhile,  the  New  York  Missionary  Society  had 
sent  out  missionaries  among  the  Indians  of  that  State, 
and  Joseph  Bullen  was  commissioned  to  labor  among 
the  Indian  tribes  at  the  Southwest,  in  Mississippi  Ter- 
ritory. In  1803,  Gideon  Blackburn — in  all  probability 
imbibing  his  views,  or  kindled  to  greater  activity  by 
Mr.  Bullen's  zeal — determined  to  see  what  could  be  ac- 
complished in  behalf  of  the  Cherokees.  He  had  vainly 
sought  (1799)  to  engage  his  Presbytery  (Union)  act- 
ively in  the  work,  and  he  now  presented  the  cause  to 
the  attention  of  the  Assembly.  It  received  their  favor- 
able notice.  Appropriations  were  made  for  it  for  many 
successive  years  from  the  Assembly's  funds;  and  the 
zeal  of  Blackburn,  sustained  by  the  recommendation 
of  the  Assembly,  accomplished  still  more  by  individual 
application  in  the  Eastern  cities.  Such  was  the  found- 
ation of  the  Cherokee  Mission. 

The  Assembly's  committee  at  first  had  their  atten- 
tion directed  especially  to  the  destitutions  of  Northern, 
Central,  and  Western  New  York.  But  soon  appeals  for 
aid  reached  them  from  Ohio,  Indiana,  Kentucky,  and 
Tennessee.  The  deficiencies  of  the  Synods  were  sup- 
plemented by  the  Assembly's  appointments,  and  Pres- 
byteries applying  for  aid  were  repeatedly  authorized 
to  employ  missionaries  at  the  Assembly's  expense.  In 
1803,  the  number  of  appointments  made  by  the  recom- 
mendation of  the  committee,  independent  of  those  em- 
ployed by  the  Synods,  was  only  five.  The  next  year  it 
rose  to  twelve.  In  1807  it  amounted  to  fifteen,  while 
five  hundred  dollars  were  appropriated  to  the  Cherokee 
Mission.  In  1811  the  number  had  risen  to  forty,  and  in 
1814  to  over  fifty,  exclusive  of  such  as  the  Presbyteries 
or  Synods  were  authorized  to  employ  at  the  Assembly's 
expense, — the  Pittsburg  Synod  also  receiving  aid,  during 
a  portion  of  the  period,  for  its  Indian  missions. 

To  sustain  this  extended  and  still  extending  plan  of 


1800-1815.  447 

operations,  the  Assembly  was  forced  to  make  repeated 
appeals  to  the  churches  for  aid.  Presbyteries  were 
urged  (1811)  to  send  out  "  their  members,  either  by 
pairs  or  individually,  to  act  as  missionaries  in  the  coun- 
try contiguous  to  their  residence  f  and,  as  some  of  them 
failed  to  send  in  their  annual  missionary  collections, 
they  were  directed  to  take  "the  most  prudent  and  effec- 
tual measures"  to  forward  "an  annual  contribution  to 
the  treasurer  of  the  Assembly." 

A  great  and  beneficent  work  was  thus  accomplished. 
In  1810,  the  Assembly  stated,  as  evidence  of  progress, 
that  in  the  space  of  the  preceding  eleven  years  the 
number  of  ministers  in  the  western  parts  of  the  State 
of  New  York  had  increased  from  two  to  nearly  fifty. 
In  other  regions  the  growth  of  the  Church  had  been 
less  rapid;  but  there  had  been  a  steady  and  healthful 
advance.  Much  good  had  been  accomplished,  doubtless, 
by  subsidiary  agencies.  Local  societies  of  various  kinds 
— missionary,  tract,  and  Bible — had  heartily  co-ope- 
rated with  the  Assembly  in  missionary  efforts;  and  this 
co-operation  was  (1811)  gratefully  recognized.  Each 
Synod  (1809)  was  recommended,  in  view  of  the  great 
and  increasing  good  that  had  accrued  to  the  Church 
"  through  the  distribution  of  small,  cheap  religious 
tracts,"  to  take  measures  for  "  establishing  as  many 
religious  tract  societies,  by  association  of  one  or  more 
Presbyteries,"  as  might  be  convenient  for  the  purpose. 
Books  were  purchased  (1802)  by  the  funds  of  the 
Assembly  for  distribution  in  the  frontier  settlements. 
They  were  put  (1805)  into  the  hands  of  individuals  and 
Presbyteries  to  distribute,  or  missionaries  were  sup- 
plied with  the  means  to  procure  them  for  the  fields  in 
which  they  labored.  In  1806,  it  was  resolved  that  one 
hundred  dollars  should  be  appropriated  annually — if  the 
funds  of  the  Assembly  would  allow — toward  procuring 
and  distributing  religious  books.     Among  those  which 


44S  HISTORY    OF    PRESBYTERIANISM. 

received  the  commendation  of  the  Assembly  were  Yin- 
cent's  Exposition  of  the  Shorter  Catechism,  and  Andrew 
Fuller's  "  Gospel  worthy  of  all  Acceptation/' — the  last 
a  work  appropriate  for  circulation  in  this  country,  in 
which  Brainerd  and  Eliot  —  through  the  reading  of 
whose  lives  and  labors  Fuller  was  led  to  adopt  the 
sentiments  it  presents — had  accomplished  their  noble 
work. 

But  the  advance  of  the  Church  during  the  period  under 
review  was  largely  due  to  the  powerful  revivals  which 
pervaded  almost  every  portion  of  the  land.  The  move- 
ment had  commenced  in  Kentucky  in  1797,  and  for 
several  years  it  continued  to  spread  and  deepen,  till 
society  was  shaken  to  its  foundations.  But  the  tares 
sprung  up  with  the  wheat,  and  the  simple  work  of  the 
gospel  was  marred  by  ill-regulated  and  fanatic  zeal 
as  well  as  illustrated  by  most  remarkable  conversions. 
In  1799,  the  revival  commenced  in  the  feeble  and  sparse 
settlements  of  Central  and  Western  New  York,  and 
continued  to  extend  during  succeeding  years.  In  1802, 
the  great  revival  of  Western  Pennsylvania  was  almost 
contemporary  with  the  erection  of  the  Pittsburg  Synod, 
and  resulted  in  supplying  it  with  not  a  few  of  its  fu- 
ture missionaries.  In  North  Carolina  and  a  portion  of 
South  Carolina,  in  Western  Virginia  and  in  New  Jer- 
sey, the  opening  years  of  the  present  century  were 
characterized  by  most  remarkable  outpourings  of  the 
Spirit.  In  repeated  instances  the  face  of  society  was 
changed.  Churches  almost  extinct  were  restored  to 
vigorous  life. 

The  General  Assembly  made  glad  and  grateful  men- 
tion of  "  the  very  extraordinary  success"  which  in 
many  places  had  attended  the  ordinances  of  the  gospel. 
"  From  the  East,  from  the  West,  from  the  North,  and 
the  South,  the  most  pleasing  intelligence"  had  (1802) 
been  received.     In  1803,  there  was  "  scarcely  a  Presby- 


GENERAL    ASSEMBLY,    1800-1815.  449 

tcry  under  the  care  of  the  Assembly  from  which  most 
pleasing  intelligence  hud  not  been  announced ;"  and  from 
some  of  them  communications  had  been  made  which 
displayed  illustriously  "the  triumphs  of  evangelical 
truth  and  the  power  of  sovereign  grace."  In  most  of 
the  Northern  and  Eastern  Presbyteries,  revivals  had 
prevailed,  but  free  from  "bodily  agitations  or  extra- 
ordinary affections. "  At  the  South  and  West  there  had 
been  a  more  remarkable  awakening,  but  characterized 
by  some  features  "  of  the  origin  and  nature  of  which" 
the  Assembly  declined  to  express  its  opinion.  In  1804, 
there  had  been  a  marked  advance  in  nearly  all  parts  of 
the  Church,  the  exceptional  features  of  revival  which 
objectors  had  magnified  having  been  limited  to  a  single 
portion  of  the  field.  The  report  of  1805  was  of  a  more 
varied  character,  and  called  attention  to  the  excesses  of 
the  revival, — remarking  that  "  true  religion  is  a  most 
rational  and  Scriptural  thing."  In  1806,  while  the 
Assembly  felt  constrained  to  bear  testimony  against 
Socinian  error  and  reprehensible  attempts  to  counter- 
feit the  work  of  God,  they  could  yet  speak  of  the  plea- 
sure with  which  they  had  heard  of  the  general  exten- 
sion and  prosperity  of  the  Church  throughout  the  land. 
The  narrative  for  1807  speaks  rather  the  language  of  ap- 
prehension and  admonition  than  of  gratulation.  The 
reaction  of  the  revivals  of  preceding  years  had  produced 
its  effects.  But  in  1808,  although  the  Assembly  found 
abundant  "cause  of  sorrow  and  humiliation,"  and  felt 
constrained,  in  view  of  the  aspect  of  public  affairs,  to 
appoint  for  the  observance  of  the  churches  a  day  of 
fasting  and  prayer,  there  was  yet  not  a  little  which 
cheered  them  in  the  review  of  the  year.  At  Newark  a 
most  powerful  revival  of  religion  had  prevailed,  under 
the  labors  of  Dr.  Griffin.  The  Synod  of  Albany  had 
been  also  highly  favored. 

In  1813,  aft  )r  three  or  four  years  of  steady  growth, 

38* 


450  HISTORY   OF   PRESBYTERIANISM. 

but  characterized  by  few  extended  revivals,  the  Assem- 
bly was  cheered  by  the  report  of  "  scenes  resembling 
those  of  Pentecost,"  in  various  parts  of  the  Church. 
Revivals  had  prevailed  in  the  Presbyteries  of  Jersey, 
Hudson,  Onondaga,  and  Albany,  and  to  a  considerable 
extent  elsewhere.  It  was  found  that  in  four  years  the 
membership  of  the  Church  had  increased  nearly  twenty- 
five  per  cent., — from  about  twenty-eight  thousand  in 
1809,'  to  thirty-four  thousand  six  hundred  and  twenty- 
four  in  1813.1 

The  influence  of  the  war,  although  deleterious,  and 
bearing  severely  upon  certain  portions  of  the  Church, 
was  less  disastrous  than  might  have  been  anticipated. 
During  its  continuance,  a  day  of  fasting  and  prayer 
was  annually  appointed  by  the  Assembly,  and  marked 
outpourings  of  the  Spirit  did  not  wholly  cease.  The 
Assemblies  of  1814  and  1815,  while  constrained  to  speak 
in  warning  tones  of  the  spread  of  intemperance  and 
kindred  vices,  could  recount  also  special  favors  enjoyed 
by  the  Church  in  various  portions  of  the  land. 

It  is  more  than  possible  that  the  mention  of  intem- 
perance in  this  connection  was  due  less  to  any  unpre- 
cedented development  of  the  evil  than  to  the  fact  that 
public  attention  had  recently  been  called  to  it  in  a 
special  manner.  For  several  years  individuals  in  dif- 
ferent parts  of  the  country  had  been  reflecting  anxiously 
upon  the  subject;  but  in  1811,  by  a  concert  of  action,  the 
General  Assembly  and  the  General  Associations  of  Mas- 
sachusetts and  Connecticut  were  led  to  appoint  a  com- 
mittee from  each  of  their  several  bodies  to  co-operate 
in  devising  measures  for  preventing  the  numerous  and 

1  Probably  these  numbers  as  reported  are  much  below  the  actual 
membership.  The  additions  in  1813  were  unusually  large,  amount- 
ing to  three  thousand  seven  hundred  and  twenty-one. — Panoplist, 
ix.  93. 


GENERAL   ASSEMBLY,    1800-1815.  451 

alarming  evils  of  intemperance.  In  the  same  year,  one 
thousand  copies  of  a  pamphlet  by  Dr.  Rush,  entitled 
"An  Enquiry  into  the  Effects  of  Ardent  Spirits  on  the 
Human  Body  and  Mind,"  were  given  (or  presented)  to  the 
Assembly,  to  be  divided  among  the  members  and  by  them 
distributed  among  the  congregations.  In  1812,  the 
committees  appointed  by  the  General  Association  of 
Connecticut  and  by  the  Assembly  made  their  reports. 
The  committee  of  the  former  body  admitted  the  alarm- 
ing evils  of  intemperance,  but  confessed  that  they  did 
not  see  that  any  thing  could  be  done.  Dr.  Beecher,  who 
was  present,  and  who  at  recent  ordinations  of  minis- 
ters had  witnessed  the  extent  to  which  the  drinking- 
usages  of  the  times  had  been  sanctioned  by  ministerial 
example,1  rose  at  once  to  propose  the  appointment  of  a 
committee  who  should  report  at  that  meeting  the  ways 
and  means  of  arresting  the  tide  of  intemperance.  As 
chairman  of  this  committee,  he  penned  their  report, — 
"  the  most  important  paper,"  as  he  declared  nearly  half 
a  century  later,  that  he  ever  wrote.  It  glowed  with 
the  earnest  eloquence  characteristic  of  its  author,  and 
far  and  near  produced  a  deep  effect. 

The  report  adopted  by  the  General  Assembly  was 
less  extended,  but  was  alike  pertinent  and  practical. 
It  sounded  the  note  of  alarm,  which  echoed  abroad  over 
the  land  and  gave  a  powerful  impulse  to  the  cause  of 
reform.  It  recommended  to  ministers  "  to  preach  as 
often  as  expedient  on  the  sins  and  mischiefs  of  intempe- 
rate drinking,  and  to  warn  their  hearers,  both  in  public 
and  private,  of  those  habits  and  indulgences  which  may 
have  a  tendency  to  produce  it."  It  enjoined  special 
vigilance  on  the  part  of  Sessions,  the  dissemination  of 
addresses,  sermons,  and  tracts  on  the  subject,  and  the 

1  At  the  ordinations  of  Mr.  Hart,  of  Plymouth,  and  Mr.  Harvey,  in 
Goshen,  Conn. — Autobiojraphy  of  Dr.  L.  Beecher. 


452  HISTORY    OF    PRESBYTERIANISM. 

adoption  of  practical  measures  for  reducing  the  number 
of  places  at  which  liquors  were  sold.  It  was  in  the 
light  of  facts  which  several  years  of  observation  had 
spread  before  the  community,  that  the  Assembly  felt 
warranted  to  speak  as  they  did  of  the  alarming  evils 
of  intemperance. 

Other  matters  pertaining  to  the  cause  of  sound  morals 
claimed  the  attention  of  the  Assembly.  The  death  of 
Hamilton,  who  fell  in  a  duel  with  Aaron  Burr  in  1804, 
thrilled  the  nation  with  horror.  In  the  Synod  of  New 
York  and  New  Jersey,  Dr.  Beecher — against  strong 
political  influences — secured  the  solemn  condemnation 
of  any  indulgence  or  toleration  of  the  "  code  of  honor." 
The  Presbytery  of  Baltimore  instructed  its  commis- 
sioners, in  1805,  to  endeavor  to  engage  the  Assembly  to 
recommend  to  its  ministers  to  refuse  to  officiate  at  the 
funeral  of  any  one  who  was  known  to  have  been  con- 
cerned in  a  duel  or  had  given  or  accepted  a  challenge. 
The  Assembly,  in  reply,  expressed  its  utter  abhorrence 
of  the  practice  of  duelling,  pronounced  it  "  a  remnant 
of  Gothic  barbarism,"  "  a  presumptuous  and  highly 
criminal  appeal  to  God  as  the  Sovereign  Judge,"  "  in- 
consistent with  every  just  principle  of  moral  conduct," 
"  a  violation  of  the  sixth  commandment,"  and  a  thing  to 
be  utterly  discountenanced.  They  complied  fully,  more- 
over, with  the  request  of  the  Presbytery  of  Baltimore, 
and  recommended  that  no  one  who  had  been  concerned 
in  a  duel,  unless  he  had  given  unequivocal  proof  of  re- 
pentance, should  be  admitted  to  the  distinguishing  pri- 
vileges of  the  Church. 1 

In  the  Assembly  of  1815,  the  slavery  question,  which 

1  In  1805,  several  slight  amendments — mainly  verbal — of  the  Form 
of  Government,  which  had  been  submitted  to  the  Presbyteries  by  the 
Assembly  of  the  previous  year,  were  found  to  have  been  approved 
by  a  majority  of  the  Presbyteries,  and  were,  consequently,  adopted. 


GENERAL  ASSEMBLY,    1800-1315.  453 

had  been  left  undisturbed  for  twenty  years,  was  again 
Introduced.  It  was  brought  to  the  notice  of  the  As- 
sembly by  the  petitions  of  certain  elders  who  enter- 
tained conscientious  scruples  on  the  subject  of  holding 
slaves,  and  of  the  Synod  of  Ohio,  asking  a  deliverance 
of  the  Assembly  upon  the  subject  of  buying  and  selling 
slaves.  The  report  on  the  subject,  after  being  read  and 
amended,  was  as  follows: — 

"  The  General  Assembly  have  repeatedly  declared 
their  cordial  approbation  of  those  principles  of  civil 
liberty  which  appear  to  be  recognized  by  the  Federal 
and  State  Governments  in  these  United  States.  They 
have  expressed  their  regret  that  the  slavery  of  the 
Africans  and  of  their  descendants  still  continues  in  so 
many  places,  and  even  among  those  within  the  pale  of 
the  Church,  and  have  urged  the  Presbyteries  under  their 
care  to  adopt  such  measures  as  will  secure  at  least  to 
the  rising  generation  of  slaves,  within  the  bounds  of 
the  Church,  a  religious  education  ;  that  they  maybe  pre- 
pared for  the  exercise  and  enjoyment  of  liberty  when 
God  in  his  providence  may  open  a  door  for  their  emanci- 
pation." The  petitioners  are  then  referred  to  the  action 
of  the  Synod  of  1787,  republished  by  the  Assembly  of 
1793,  and  to  the  action  of  the  Assembly  of  1795.  To 
the  first  petition  this  was  considered  a  sufficient  answer; 
but  as  to  the  second,  from  the  Synod  of  Ohio,  "  the  As- 
sembly observe  that,  although  in  some  sections  of  our 
country,  under  certain  circumstances,  the  transfer  of 
slaves  may  be  unavoidable,  yet  they  consider  the  buying 
and  selling  of  slaves  by  way  of  traffic,  and  all  undue 
severity  in  the  management  of  them,  as  inconsistent 
with  the  spirit  of  the  gospel.  And  they  recommend  it 
to  the  Presbyteries  and  Sessions  under  their  care  to 
make  use  of  all  prudent  measures  to  prevent  such 
shameful  and  unrighteous  conduct." 

Oncof  the  most  perplexing  matters  which  during  this 


454  HISTORY    OP    PRESBYTERIANISM. 

period  was  brought  before  the  Assembly  was  the  policy 
to  be  adopted  with  reference  to  the  Synod  of  Kentucky. 
The  powerful  revival  which  had  prevailed  for  some  time 
within  the  bounds  of  that  Synod  was  without  a  pre- 
cedent in  the  history  of  the  Church.  From  a  state  of 
almost  hopeless  decline,  the  churches  were  aroused  to 
unexampled  activity.  The  power  of  a  hitherto  pre- 
valent infidelity  was  paralyzed.  The  spell  of  worldli- 
ness  was  broken.  The  hardened,  the  blasphemer,  the 
skeptic,  the  atheist,  were  smitten  with  conviction;  and 
hundreds,  if  not  thousands,  were  added  to  the  member- 
ship of  the  churches. 

But  the  work  was  characterized  by  extraordinary 
manifestations,  of  which  the  more  conservative  ministers 
could  not  approve.  The  "Bodily  Exercises,"  of  various 
kinds,  began  to  prevail  as  the  work  progressed,  till  in 
some  minds  they  came  to  be  regarded  as  its  inseparable 
adjuncts.  The  enthusiasm  of  some,  and  the  fanaticism 
of  others,  carried  them  beyond  the  limits  of  discretion. 
Uneducated  but  zealous  men  began  to  exhort,  and  at 
length  to  assume  the  work  of  preachers.  The  demand 
for  their  labors — increased  by  the  revival — perplexed 
the  Presbytery.  To  license  them  might  flood  the  Church 
with  inexperienced  men,  who  would  do  mischief.  To 
refuse  them  license  or  approbation  as  catechists  or  ex- 
horters  might  be  not  only  regarded  as  invidious,  but  as 
opposing  the  progress  of  the  revival.  "  Father"  Bice 
wrote  a  letter  to  the  Assembly  (1804),  asking  advice. 
The  reply  was  cautious  and  discreet.  It  pointed  out  the 
dangers  to  be  apprehended  from  introducing  unedu- 
cated men  hastily  into  the  ministry,  yet  allowed  the 
Presbytery  to  sanction  catechists  and  exhorters,  if  men 
of  sound  judgment,  over  whom  the  Presbytery  was  to 
keep  careful  watch  and  supervision. 

But  the  mischief  apprehended  had  already  taken 
place.     The  Presbytery  and  the  Synod  were  divided  into 


GENERAL  ASSEMBLY,  1800-1815.  455 

two  parties  in  reference  to  the  question;  and  to  such  an 
extent  had  they  been  carried  in  their  zeal  that  friendly 
co-operation  was  no  longer  possible.  Messrs.  Blythe, 
Lyle,  and  Stuart,  members  of  the  Synod,  applied  to  the 
Assembly  (1804)  for  advice  as  to  the  course  to  be  pur- 
sued for  healing  the  breach.  In  response,  Drs.  Hall 
and  Green  and  Kev.  Mr.  Marquis  were  appointed  a 
committee  to  meet  and  confer  with  the  Synod  at  their 
next  meeting.  The  report  of  this  committee  in  the  fol- 
lowing year  showed  that  the  grievances  of  the  seceding 
brethren  consisted  in  what  they  regarded  as  the  viola- 
tion of  their  own  rules  by  the  majority  of  the  Synod, 
and  the  fatalism  taught  in  the  Confession  of  Faith.  In 
their  own  defence  the  Synod  had  addressed  themselves 
to  their  churches  in  their  own  vindication,  exposing 
the  inconsistency  of  those  who  would  reject  the  use  of 
creeds  and  disregard  the  authority  of  the  judicatories 
of  the  Church. 

The  Assembly  approved  of  the  course  pursued  by  the 
Synod,  as  "firm  and  temperate ;"  but  it  was  felt — whe- 
ther justly  or  not — that  the  evil  had  already  gone  too 
far  to  be  reached  by  any  measure  which  might  be  adopted 
either  by  the  Synod  or  Assembly.  Yet  in  the  follow- 
ing year  (1805),  the  "  Presbytery  of  Cumberland"  ad- 
dressed the  Assembly  a  letter  of  complaint,  which  the 
latter  characterized  in  their  reply  as  "  respectful  and 
interesting,"  while  they  disclaimed  any  intention  to 
cast  reproach  on  the  revival  or  upon  those  who  were 
connected  with  it.  But  the  irregularities  of  the  Pres- 
bytery on  several  points  invited  the  reprehension  of  the 
Synod;  and  the  latter,  by  extraordinary  measures,  en- 
deavored to  put  a  stop  to  these  irregularities.  To  some 
of  these  measures  the  Assembly  took  exceptions  (1807), 
and  advised  the  Synod  to  review  them.  In  reply  to 
the  aggrieved  members  of  Cumberland  Presbytery,  the 
Assembly  could  only  say  that,  had  their  c-tse  eome,  up 


45(5  HISTORY   OF   PRESBYTERIANISM. 

before  them  properly  by  way  of  aj^peal,  the  desired  re 
lief  might  perhaps  have  been  afforded. 

But  already  the  hope  of  reconciling  the  parties  at 
variance  had  vanished.  The  Assembly  itself  was  not 
unanimous  in  regard  to  the  policy  to  be  pursued. 
Some — and  among  them  Dr.  Dwight — were  strenuous 
in  vindication  of  the  cause  of  the  Synod.  Others — 
like  Dr.  Wilson,  of  Philadelphia — felt  that  a  judicious 
combination  of  leniency  and  decision  might  have 
healed  the  breach  and  prevented  the  Cumberland  se- 
cession. But  as  the  latter  became  conscious  of  their 
own  strength,  and  were  largely  sustained  by  popular 
sympathy,  they  became  less  and  less  disposed  to  seek 
a  restoration  to  the  communion  of  the  Presbyterian 
Church.  At  length,  in  1814,  the  Assembly,  in  response 
to  the  inquiry  how  those  who  had  belonged  to  the  late 
Presbytery  of  Cumberland,  but  who  upon  its  dissolution 
had  erected  themselves  into  a  new  one,  should  be  treated, 
replied  that  they  should  be  viewed  as  "  having  derived 
no  authority  from  us  for  the  exercise  of  discipline, 
&c,"  and  that  "  our  regular  members  cannot  treat  with 
them  as  a  body,  but  only  as  individuals."  Such  was 
the  origin  of  the  Cumberland  Presbyterian  Church. 

Notwithstanding  all  the  adverse  influences  exerted 
by  the  fanaticism,  extravagances,  and  irregularities  of 
the  Kentucky  revival,  and  the  effects  of  the  war,  with 
the  political  passions  and  party  zeal  which  preceded 
and  accompanied  it,  the  period  under  review  was  for 
the  Presbyterian  Church  in  this  country  one  of  steady 
and  even  rapid  progress.  It  was  characterized  to  a  re- 
markable extent  by  a  spontaneous  missionary  activity. 
Local  as  well  as  more  general  societies  for  the  distri- 
bution of  Bibles,  tracts,  and  religious  books,  or  for  send- 
ing out  missionaries  to  the  destitute,  were  organized. 
New  York  and  Philadelphia  had  each  a  city  missionary 
society,  the  first  organized  in  1809,  and  the  latter  in 


GENERAL    ASSEMBLY,    1800-1815.  457 

1807-8.  The  Church  Session  of  Savannah,  under  the 
labors  of  the  gifted  Kollock,  generously  made  provision 
(1810)  for  the  support  of  two  missionaries — one  the  Rev. 
Mr.  Storrs,  of  Massachusetts,  who  had  just  completed 
his  theological  course  at  Andover — in  the  interior  of  the 
State  of  Georgia.  In  all  parts  of  the  land  there  was 
more  or  less  of  this  disposition  to  volunteer  mission- 
ary effort.  In  New  Brunswick  (1810)  a  Sabbath-school 
was  established  for  the  gratuitous  instruction  of  poor 
children  in  moral  and  religious  truth;  and  the  fact  was 
deemed  so  important  as  to  be  made  a  subject  of  grateful 
mention  by  the  Assembly  of  1811.  The  devoted  Pat- 
terson of  Philadelphia  heard  of  it,  and  introduced  the 
system  of  Sunday-schools  into  his  own  church;  and  in 
a  few  years  more  it  had  become  general  throughout  the 
land. 

The  evidence  of  progress  was  evinced  also  by  the  in- 
crease in  the  number  of  Presbyteries,  the  organization 
of  new  churches,  and  the  constant  increase  in  the  ag- 
gregate membership.  In  1801,  the  four  Synods  num- 
bered twenty-eight  Presbyteries,  with  probably  not  far 
from  two  hundred  and  twenty -five  ministers,  and  four 
hundred  and  fifty  churches.  In  1815,  there  had  been  an 
increase  of  nearly  one  hundred  per  cent.  In  1801,  Erie 
Presbytery  was  erected.  In  1802,  Columbia,  Oneida, 
and  Cumberland ;  in  1805,  Geneva;  in  1808,  Hartford 
and  Lancaster;  in  1809,  Jersey  and  Harmony;  in  1810, 
Cayuga,  Onondaga,  West  Tennessee,  Muhlenberg,  and 
Miami;  in  1811,  Northumberland;  in  1812,  Fayetteville; 
in  1814,  Grand  River  and  Champlain ;  and  in  1815,  Louis- 
ville and  Mississippi,  were  successively  erected  ;  and  the 
summary  for  the  latter  year  embraced  forty-one  Pres- 
byteries, five  hundred  and  twenty  ministers,  eight  hun- 
dred and  fifty-nine  churches,  and  thirty-nine  thousand 
six  hundred  and   eighty-five  members.     A  full  report 

Vol.  I.— .'!9 


458  HISTORY    OF    PRESBYTERIANISM. 

would  doubtless  have  added  at  least  five  per  cent,  to 
the  number  of  ministers,  churches,  and  members. 

This  was  certainly  a  most  rapid  growth;  but  it  had 
not  overtaken  the  wants  of  the  mission-field.  As  the 
circle  of  light  expanded,  it  was  encompassed  by  a  still 
more  extended  circumference  of  darkness.  The  ex- 
plorations of  Messrs.  Mills  and  Schermerhorn,  who  in 
1812  and  1813,  under  the  patronage  of  the  Massachu- 
setts and  other  missionary  societies,  visited  the  Western 
and  Southwestern  frontier  of  the  field,  afford  us  some 
feeble  idea,  at  least,  of  the  destitutions  which  prevailed. 
They  went  prepared  to  examine  and  to  report  back  to 
the  Eastern  churches  the  necessities  of  the  region  they 
traversed,  and  the  measures  to  be  adopted  for  its  supply. 
The  statistics  which  they  gave  constituted  the  most 
eloquent  appeal  for  enlarged  effort. 

In  Pennsylvania  west  of  the  Alleghanies  there  was 
a  population  of  about  two  hundred  thousand  inhabit- 
ants, and  one  hundred  and  one  Presbyterian  churches. 
In  Ohio,  wTith  a  population  of  three  hundred  and  thirty 
thousand,  there  were  seventy-eight  Presbyterian  and 
Congregational  churches  and  forty-nine  ministers.  In 
Virginia,  with  a  population  little  short  of  a  million, 
there  were  about  seventy  Presbyterian  churches  and 
forty  ministers.  Old  Virginia,  as  it  wTas  called, — the 
portion  of  the  State  lying  on  the  seaboard, — was  repre- 
sented as  in  a  deplorably  destitute  condition.  Three- 
fourths  of  the  entire  State  exhibited  "an  extensive 
and  dreary  waste."  West  of  the  Alleghanies  it  had 
but  twelve  Presbyterian  churches  and  three  ministers. 
Kentucky,  with  a  population  of  four  hundred  thousand, 
had  ninety-one  Presbyterian  churches  and  forty  minis- 
ters. Three  infidel  publications  were  issued  from  the 
press  in  Lexington.  Of  the  two  hundred  and  ninety- 
three  Baptist  societies  in  the  State,  quite  a  large  num- 
ber wrere  Arian  or  Socinian.     Tennessee,  with  a  popu- 


GENERAL  ASSEMBLY,    1800-1815.  459 

lation  of  more  than  two  hundred  and  sixty  thousand, 
had  seventy-nine  Presbyterian  churches  and  twenty- 
six  ministers.  At  its  two  colleges,  one  at  Knoxville  and 
the  other  in  Green  county,  several  students  were  prepar- 
ing for  the  ministry.  Here  also  was  organized  the  only 
missionary  society  west  of  the  Alleghanies,  except  the 
Synod  of  Pittsburg.  The  State  of  Louisiana,  with  a 
population  of  seventy-seven  thousand  whites  and  thirty- 
five  thousand  blacks,  had  not  a  single  organized  Pres- 
byterian church.  This  was  the  case  also  with  Mis- 
souri Territoiy,  with  a  scattered  population  of  twenty- 
one  thousand.  At  New  Orleans,  Mr.  Schermerhorn 
preached  to  a  congregation  of  two  hundred  persons, 
and  regretted  that  he  could  not  accept  their  invitation 
to  remain  and  labor  among  them. 

Mississippi  Territory,  with  a  population  of  fifty-eight 
thousand,  had  but  six  Presbyterian  churches  and  four 
ministers.  "  The  state  of  society"  was  "  deplorable/' 
It  was  believed  "  that  more  innocent  blood  was  shed  in 
this  Territory  and  in  Louisiana  in  one  year  than  in  all 
the  Middle  and  Eastern  States  in  ten  years  V 

Indiana  Territory  was  in  no  better  condition  in 
respect  to  religious  destitution.  With  twenty-five  thou- 
sand inhabitants,  it  had  but  one  Presbyterian  church 
and  minister.  Illinois  Territory,  with  thirteen  thou- 
sand inhabitants,  could  not  lay  claim  to  be  represented 
by  a  single  church  or  minister  of  the  Presbyterian  deno- 
mination. 

This  whole  region  thus  surveyed  was,  for  the  most 
part,  one  great  missionary  field.  It  did  not  contain 
two-thirds  as  many  ministers,  Presbyterian  and  Con- 
gregational, as  were  to  be  found  in  the  single  State  of 
.Massachusetts.  In  some  portions  of  it  the  Baptists  and 
Methodists  were  quite  numerous;  but  many  of  their 
preachers  were  utterly  unqualified  for  their  work,  and 
in  some   cases  their   influence  was   disastrous   rather 


460  HISTORY    OF    PRESBYTERIANISM. 

than  otherwise.  Yet  it  was  in  these  destitute  fields 
that  the  largest  future  advance  of  the  Church  was 
already  anticipated.  In  many  of  the  older  portions 
of  the  country  there  had  been  not  only  no  positive  in- 
crease, but  in  some  there  had  been  in  fact  an  actual 
loss.  In  Virginia  quite  a  number  of  the  early  churches 
were  falling  to  decay.  Too  feeble  without  aid  to  sup- 
port a  pastor,  they  sank  for  years  into  a  gradual  de- 
cline. "  I  think  the  state  of  religion  in  this  country/' 
says  Dr.  Eice,  in  a  letter  to  Dr.  Alexander  (Jan.  1810), 
"  worse  by  some  degrees  than  when  you  left  it.  Pres- 
byterian congregations  are  decreasing  every  year,  and 
appear  as  if  they  would  dwindle  to  nothing."  This  was 
also  the  case,  to  a  considerable  extent,  on  the  Eastern 
Shore  of  Maryland,  and  in  Delaware.  Central  Penn- 
sylvania was  depleted  by  emigration;  and  some  of 
the  oldest  churches  were  reduced  to  great  feebleness. 
New  Jersey  was  steadily  but  yet  slowly  gaining;  while 
in  Western  Pennsylvania  the  growth  was  rapid.  In 
Western  New  York,  Ohio,  Kentucky,  and  Tennessee, 
the  Church  received  large  accessions. 

The  funds  at  the  command  of  the  Assembly  were 
scant  indeed.  The  annual  expenditure  during  this 
period  for  missions  rarely  exceeded  two  thousand  five 
hundred  dollars,  and  sometimes  came  far  short  of  it. 
Yet  the  funds  were  judiciously  applied.  The  salary  of 
the  missionary  was  sometimes  thirty-three  dollars  per 
month,  at  others  one  dollar  per  day  and  his  expenses. 
At  length,  forty  dollars  per  month  was  allowed :  yet  it 
was  not  always  accepted.  It  is  impossible  to  peruse 
the  reports  of  missionaries  to  the  Assembly  without  a 
deep  impression  of  the  self-denying  generosity  of  men 
who  for  the  merest  pittance  were  willing  to  brave  all 
the  hardships  of  the  wilderness,  and  exposure  to  storm 
and  fatigue,  in  order  to  accomplish  their  missionary 
work.     There  is  more  than  is  expressed  to  the  eye  in 


GENERAL   ASSEMBLY,  1S00-1S15.  461 

Buch  statements  as  these: — that  Mr.  Chapman  (of  Ge- 
neva) "received  forty-five  dollars  and  thirty-two  cents, 
travelled  t wo  thousand  miles,  and  preached  above  one 
hundred  sermons;" — that  John  Lindley,  absent  for  four 

months,  "baptized  eleven  children,  preached  ninety-six 
times,  and  received  twelve  dollars  and  fifty  cents ;" — 
that  Mr.  Coe  (of  Troy)  "  served  as  a  missionary  for  six 
weeks,  and  received  three  dollars  and  seventy-five  and 
a  half  cents;" — that  James  Hall,  missionary  to  the 
Mississippi  Territory,  "  served  on  his  mission  seven 
months  and  thirteen  days,  and  received  eighty-six 
dollars."  Behind  the  dry  statistical  facts  of  the  com- 
mittee lie  hidden  whole  chapters  of  welcome  hardship, 
of  heroic  self-denial,  and  of  results  achieved  enduring 
yet,  the  history  of  which  no  human  pen  can  fairly  trace, 
but  whose  "  record  is  on  high." 

There  was  an  urgent  demand  during  this  whole 
period  for  an  increase  in  the  number  of  ministers.  The 
field  was  white  for  the  harvest,  but  the  laborers  could 
not  be  procured.  This  lack  of  men  fitted  for  pastoral 
and  missionary  work  was  felt  to  be  a  serious  and 
growing  evil.  In  1805  it  was  brought  before  the  As- 
sembly by  an  overture  from  the  pen  of  Dr.  Ashbcl 
Green.  "  Give  us  ministers,  such" — it  declared, — "  is 
the  cry  of  the  missionary  region ;  Give  us  ministers, 
is  the  importunate  entreaty  of  our  numerous  and  in- 
creasing vacancies  j  Give  us  ministers,  is  the  demand  of 
many  large  and  important  congregations  in  our  most 
populous  cities  and  towns."  Weak  and  illiterate  minis- 
ters could  not  supply  the  want  or  meet  the  emergency. 
Pious  but  educated  men  were  needed;  and  a  problem 
of  the  first  importance  was,  How  can  they  be  secured  ? 

The  first  thing  proposed  was  an  effort,  by  means  of 
increased  salaries,  to  remove  discouragements  of  a  tem- 
poral kind,  especially  the  fear  of  inadequate  support, 
which  prevented  young  men  from  entering  the  ministry. 

3JH 


462  HISTORY    OF    PRESBYTERIANISM. 

The  other  was  a  plan  to  be  adopted  by  the  Assembly 
for  requiring  the  Presbyteries  to  do  what  lay  in  their 
power  in  the  way  of  seeking  out  and  assisting  proper 
candidates.  The  overture  was  laid  over  till  another 
year,  and  recommended  to  the  attention  of  the  Pres- 
byteries. In  1806,  their  replies  were  received;  and  the 
general  unanimity  which  they  manifested  warranted 
the  Assembly  in  earnestly  recommending,  to  every 
Presbytery  under  their  care,  increased  endeavors  on 
their  part  to  bring  forward  a  larger  "  number  of  pro- 
mising candidates  for  the  holy  ministry."  They  were 
to  urge  the  subject  upon  the  attention  of  the  congre- 
gations. Parents  of  pious  youth  were  to  be  exhorted 
to  educate  them  for  the  Church,  and  the  youth  them- 
selves were  to  be  persuaded  "  to  devote  their  talents 
and  their  lives  to  this  sacred  calling."  Vigorous  exer- 
tions were  to  be  made  to  raise  funds  for  their  support, 
and  reports  of  their  success  were  to  be  annually  for- 
warded to  the  Assembly. 

A  letter  from  the  trustees  of  the  College  of  New 
Jersey  was  also  (1806)  recommended  to  the  attention 
of  the  Presbyteries.  It  stated  that  they  had  "made 
the  most  generous  provision  for  the  support  and  in- 
struction of  theological  students."  They  might  pursue 
their  studies  at  Princeton  "  at  the  moderate  charge  of 
one  dollar  a  week  for  board,  and  enjoy  the  assistance 
of  the  President  and  Professor  of  Theology,  without 
any  fee  for  instruction." 

The  overture  of  Dr.  Green  may  be  perhaps  regarded 
as  the  germ  of  the  project  which  issued  in  the  establish- 
ment of  Princeton  Theological  Seminary.  Nothing, 
however,  was  publicly  spoken  with  direct  reference  to 
such  an  institution  until  it  was  mentioned  in  the  open- 
ing Assembly  of  1808,  by  Dr.  Alexander.  Encouiaged 
by  the  favor  with  which  the  suggestion  was  received, 
the  Presbytery  of  Philadelphia,  at  the  instance  of  Dr. 


GENERAL   ASSEMBLY,    1800-1816.  403 

Green,  brought  the  Biibject,  by  overture,  to  the  atten- 
tion of  the  Assembly  of  1809.  It  is  probable  that  the 
success  of  the  institution  at  Andover,  which  had  been 
recently  established,  and  which  already  numbered  thirty- 
six  students,  was  a  weighty  argument  in  favor  of  the 
project.  The  Assembly,  after  mature  deliberation,  deter- 
mined to  submit  to  the  Presbyteries  three  plans  for  the 
promotion  of  theological  education,  and  to  adopt  that 
which  the  reports  of  the  following  year  should  desig- 
nate as  preferable.  These  plans  were — first,  the  establish- 
ment of  "one  great  school"  in  some  central  position; 
secondly,  the  establishment  of  two,  one  for  the  North- 
ern and  the  other  for  the  Southern  portion  of  the 
Church  j  and  thirdly,  one  for  each  Synod.  The  reports 
made  to  the  Assembly  of  1810  showed  that  the  first  of 
these  plans  was  preferred;  and  steps  were  immediately 
taken  for  carrying  it  out.  A  committee  was  appointed 
to  draft  the  constitution  of  the  proposed  seminary ;  and 
upon  Dr.  Green,  as  the  chairman  of  the  committee,  the 
task  of  doing  it  devolved.  Adopted,  by  the  Assembly 
(1811)  with  slight  alterations,  vigorous  measures  were 
taken  to  endow  the  institution.  The  first  meeting  of 
the  directors  was  held  June  30,  1812,  and  the  corner- 
stone was  laid  September  26,  1815.1 


1  After  adopting  this  plan  of  the  Seminary,  the  General  Assembly 
which  met  in  1811  did  little  more  than  take  measures  for  collecting 
funds  for  the  proposed  institution,  by  appointing  a  number  of  agents 
in  all  the  Synods  for  that  purpose.  They  also  appointed  a  com- 
mittee to  confer  with  the  trustees  of  the  College  of  New  Jersey,  at 
Princeton,  respecting  any  facilities  and  privileges  which  the  said 
trustees  might  be  disposed  to  give  to  a  theological  seminary  if 
located  at  Princeton. 

At  the  meeting  of  the  next  Assembly  (1812)  the  location  of  the 
Seminary  was  fixed  at  Princeton,  a  board  of  directors  was  elected, 
and  Dr.  Alexander  was  appointed  Professor  of  Didactic  and  Polemic 
Theology.  The  first  meeting  of  the  directors  was  held  at  Princeton, 
en  the  last  Tuesday  of  June.     On  August  lli,  Dr.  Alexander  was 


464  HISTORY   OP   PRESBYTERIANISM. 

But  the  institution  had  already  commenced  its  ses- 
sions. Early  in  1814,  the  number  of  its  students 
amounted  to  twenty-four :  yet  its  state  was  pronounced 
to  be  "  at  once  promising  and  critical/'  and  its  friends 
were  exhorted  to  continue  their  efforts  for  its  endow- 
ment. Year  after  year  the  attention  of  the  Assembly 
was  directed  toward  measures  for  procuring  funds,  and 
the  ablest  and  best  ministers  of  the  Church  were  engaged 
in  the  task  of  soliciting  contributions.  The  cause  met 
with  general  acceptance,  and  even  favor,  and  from  every 
direction  contributions  were  received.  The  amount  for 
the  year  closing  May,  1813,  was  not  far  from  twenty- 
four  thousand  dollars. 

A  survey  of  the  Church  at  the  close  of  this  period 
(1815)  will  bring  to  view  some  of  the  leading  minds  by 
which  its  policy  was  shaped  and  its  success  promoted. 
In  New  England  were  Samuel  Taggart,  a  member  of 
the  Londonderry  Presbytery,  and  pastor  of  Coleraine, 
Mass.,  for  many  years  a  member  of  Congress,  a  man 
of  most  remarkable  memory  and  rigid  logic ;  Dr. 
Daniel  Dana,  of  Xewburyport,  and  Morrison,  of  Lon- 
donderry, the  last  a  model  pastor,  strict  without 
austerity,  and  fervent  without  enthusiasm,  sound  in 
judgment,  independent  in  thought,  searching  as  a 
preacher,  and  as  impressive  in  his  sermons  as  in  his 
prayers.  In  New  York  were  Dr.  Samuel  Blatchford,  of 
Lansingburg,  trained  as  an  English  Independent,  re- 
spectable as  a  scholar,  kindred  in  spirit  with  Dwight 

inaugurated.  At  this  time,  on  the  opening  of  the  institution,  the 
number  of  students  was  three.  In  May  of  the  following  year  (1813) 
it  was  eight.  The  Assembly  then  elected  Dr.  Miller,  of  New  York, 
Professor  of  Ecclesiastical  History  and  Church  Government,  and  he 
was  inaugurated  September  29.  The  seminary  was  now  located 
permanently  at  Princeton.  In  the  autumn  of  1817,  the  edifice  for 
the  students  was  first  occupied.  It  was  of  stone,  one  hundred  and 
fifty  feet  long,  fifty  broad,  and  four  stories  high. — Dr.  Miller,  in 
Am.  Quar.  Register,  x.  35. 


GENERAL   ASSEMBLY,    1§00-1815.  4G5 

and  Edwards,  with  whom  he  was  for  years  associated, 
of  a  large  Christian  heart,  the  friend  of  learning,  phi- 
lanthropy, and  missions,  and  instructive  and  sometimes 
powerful  in  the  pulpit;  Jonas  Coe,  of  Troy,  great  in 
character  rather  than  in  intellect,  wit,  or  eloquence,  pure- 
minded,  judicious,  and  the  model  of  the  Christian  gen- 
tleman; David  Porter,  of  Catskill,  eccentric,  but  kind, 
tender-hearted,  of  exquisite  sensibility,  a  man  of  sharp 
discrimination,  original  thought,  clear  judgment,  and  a 
master  in  theology;  President  Nott,  of  Union  College^ 
then  in  the  zenith  of  his  fame  and  the  vigor  of  his 
powders,  eminent  as  a  scholar,  an  orator,  and  a  teacher; 
Aaron  Woolworth,  of  Bridgehampton,  L.I.,  discreet, 
benevolent,  modest,  but  with  heart  and  lips  that  amid 
revival  scenes  seemed  as  if  touched  by  "  a  live  coal  from 
off  the  altar,"  and  with  a  daily  life  that  in  the  fra- 
grance of  goodness  was  "  as  ointment  poured  forth ;" 
and  M.  L.  Perrine,  Gardiner  Spring,  and  John  B.  Eo- 
meyn,  of  New  York  City;  the  first  "the  beloved  dis- 
ciple/' "wise  as  a  serpent  and  harmless  as  a  dove;"  the 
second  in  the  flush  of  youthful  enthusiasm,  but  faithful 
to  the  purpose  wThich  diverted  him  from  the  bar  to  the 
pulpit  and  has  now  crowned  his  age  with  the  memories 
of  a  successful  pastorate ;  the  latter,  with  rich  stores  of 
knowledge,  a  sprightly,  active  intellect,  a  ready  utter- 
ance, but  with  an  earnestness  of  tone,  manner,  and 
gesture  which  dissipated  all  doubts  of  his  sincerity,  and 
gave  to  the  tide  of  his  discourse  the  force  of  a  torrent. 
In  New  Jersey  were  Kiehards  and  Griffin,  of  Newark, 
— the  former  practical,  sagacious,  discreet,  carrying  his 
unfeigned  piety  with  him  into  every  sphere,  a  safe 
guide,  a  trusted  counsellor,  and  devoted  pastor,  the 
latter  physically  and  intellectually  a  giant,  just  returned 
from  his  battle  with  the  Anakims  of  Boston  Unitarian- 
ism;  Ashbel  Green,  President  of  New  Jersey  College, 
of  sound  rather  than  sprightly  intellect,  sternly  con- 


466  HISTORY    OF   PRESBYTERIANISM. 

scientious  even  if  wrong-headed,  persistent  in  purpose, 
with  theories  that  were  convictions,  and  with  convic- 
tions that  were  acts, — grave,  dignified,  courteous,  leav- 
ing no  man  in  mistake  as  to  his  aims,  opinions,  or  posi- 
tions, however  objectionable,  and  with  a  pride  of  chav- 
racter  and  standing  that  none  might  call  in  question ; 
Archibald  Alexander,  lovely  in  mind  and  person,  idol- 
ized alike  as  pastor  and  teacher,  in  the  pulpit  fascinat- 
ing rather  than  impressive,  and  destined  for  more  than 
thirty  years  yet,  as  theological  professor  at  Princeton, 
to  shape  the  views,  character,  and  destiny  of  hundreds 
of  the  pastors  of  the  Church;  and  Samuel  Miller,  the 
Christian  gentleman,  the  model  of  urbane  and  dignified 
deportment,  with  a  consistent  piety,  a  sound  judgment, 
and  a  balance  of  character  which  exempted  him  alike 
from  the  brilliancy  and  the  infirmities  of  genius,  yet 
fitted  him  admirably  to  serve  as  the  compeer  of  Alex- 
ander in  training  up  an  educated  ministry. 

In  Pennsylvania  were  Wilson,  Janeway,  Skinner, 
Potts,  and  Patterson,  of  Philadelphia;  the  first  liberal 
in  spirit,  profound  in  scholarship,  unanswerable  in 
argumentation  ;  the  second,  of  fair  abilities  and  careful 
culture,  a  faithful  pastor  and  discreet  preacher;  the 
third,  just  entering  upon  a  ministry  of  long-continueci 
and  extended  usefulness,  and  already  giving  earnest,  in 
his  "  pungent  appeals,"  of  the  force  of  truth  pressed 
home  by  a  clear  logic  and  a  glowing  heart;  the  fourth, 
a  practical  worker,  pastor  of  a  church  built  up  by  his 
own  efforts,  kindly,  judicious,  sympathizing,  and  liberal- 
minded  ;  the  last,  all  this  and  far  more, — a  man  who  in 
dealing  with  sin  and  proclaiming  the  terrors  of  the  law 
might  almost  be  said  to  speak  thunder  and  gesticulate 
lightning,  and  who  seemed  to  draw  his  vital  breath  in  the 
atmosphere  of  revival ;  P.  A.  Latta,  of  Chesnut  Level, 
a  poet,  a  classical  scholar,  and  an  orator;  Wm,  Paxton, 
of  Lower  Marsh  Creek,  modest,  affectionate,  untiring 


GENERAL    ASSEMBLY,    1800-1815.  4G7 

in  pastoral  dut}~,  his  tall,  manly  frame  a  fit  index  to  his 
large  heart;  Henry  E.  Wilson,  of  Carlisle,  as  pastor  or 
professor,  ever  active,  energetic,  enterprising;  Samuel 
Porter,  of  Redstone  Presbytery,  the  Patrick  Henry  of 
the  pulpit,  a  man  who  had  the  boldness,  tact,  and  elo- 
quence that  enabled  him  successfully  to  confront  the 
Whiskey  insurrectionists  of  1794  on  their  own  ground, 
and  who  with  the  advantages  of  early  culture  might 
have  taken  his  place  among  the  foremost  metaphysicians 
and  scholars  of  the  age;  Andrew  Wylie,  President  of 
Jefferson  College;  John  McMillan,  of  Chartiers, — the 
patriarch  of  the  Presbytery,  the  father  of  Canonsburg 
Academy  and  Jefferson  College,  impetuous  and  almost 
irresistible  in  his  appeals  and  denunciations;  Matthew 
Brown,  successively  President  of  Washington  and  Jef- 
ferson Colleges,  if  impetuous  and  hasty,  yet  never 
shrinking  or  timid ;  Macurdy,  of  Cross  Roads,  intensely 
practical,  but  intensely  devoted  to  his  work,  the  friend 
of  missions,  and  a  powerful  revivalist;  Marquis,  "the 
silver-tongued,"  of  Cross  Creek,  whose  voice  was  music, 
and  whose  art  of  persuasion  was  wellnigh  perfect;  and 
James  Hughes,  a  faithful  pastor,  a  scholar,  a  philanthro- 
pist, for  years  a  superintendent  of  the  Indian  missions, 
and  finally  President  of  Miami  University. 

Returning  eastward  of  the  Alleghanies,  we  find  at 
Wilmington,  Del.,  Thomas  Read,  none  the  less  vene- 
rable that  he  retains  the  manners,  dress,  and  even  wig 
of  the  olden  time, — an  example  of  hospitality,  sym- 
pathizing with  every  form  of  benevolence,  a  pastor 
and  yet  a  missionary,  retaining  still  the  sympathies  of 
his  youth,  and  as  devoted  to  the  Church  as  he  had  been 
to  his  country;  at  Baltimore,  Inglis  and  Glendy,  the 
first  a  most  accomplished  orator,  charming  every 
listener  by  the  elegance — sometimes  excessive — of 
his  rhetoric,  and  the  grace  of  his  utterance,  but  falling 
shortof  that  higher  standard  which  Cowpercommeuds; 


468  HISTORY   OF   PRESBYTERIANISM. 

the  last,  an  Irish  exile,  and  in  every  sermon  betraying 
his  national  relationship  to  the  Irish  orators  represented 
by  Counsellor  Phillips,  and  in  his  daily  intercourse, 
and  even  in  the  pulpit,  venting  his  Irish  wit  and  humor, 
yet  never  forgetful  of  the  character  and  manners  of  a 
Christian  gentleman ;  at  Georgetown,  the  humorous 
but  sensible,  shrewd,  and  genial  Balch  j  at  Alexandria, 
James  Muir,  with  his  staid  Scotch  gravity  and  dignity, 
kind-hearted,  studious,  Biblical  in  his  preaching,  spot- 
less in  reputation,  and  called,  in  reference  to  his  stature 
as  well  as  his  meekness,  "  the  little  Moses." 

In  connection  with  the  Synod  of  Virginia,  we  find 
Moses  Hoge,  President  of  Hampden-Sidney  and  Pro- 
fessor of  Theology, — in  the  pulpit  ungraceful  and  even 
uncouth  in  manner,  but  with  a  mind  of  uncommon 
vigor,  well  disciplined  and  richly  stored;  James  Mit- 
chel  and  his  youthful  colleague  James  Turner,  at  the 
Peaks  of  Otter,  the  first  animated,  fervent,  sometimes 
quaint  in  the  plans  of  his  discourses,  but  suffering 
nothing  to  divert  his  aim  from  the  heart  and  conscience; 
the  latter,  master  of  "  soul-stirring,  tear-drawing  elo- 
quence 5"  John  H.  Eice,  at  Eichmond,  with  his  varied 
scholarship,  fervent  piety,  practical  talent,  and  lovely 
spirit;  George  A.  Baxter,  President  of  Washington 
College,  and  pastor  of  Lexington  and  New  Monmouth, 
a  man  as  modest  as  he  was  great,  with  an  understand- 
ing comprehensive,  profound,  clear,  and  logical,  a  me- 
mory wonderfully  retentive,  a  judgment  that  rarely 
erred,  and  a  fervent  emotion  which  it  needed  but  the 
occasion  to  evoke  ;  Conrad  Speece,  of  Augusta,  with  all 
his  wit  and  drollery,  a  giant  in  intellect  as  well  as  per- 
son, and  insatiable  in  his  thirst  for  knowledge;  and, 
besides  these,  not  a  few  who  had  caught  the  spirit  of 
the  great  revival  at  Hampden-Sidney,  or  had  been  con- 
verted under  its  influence. 

Still  farther  to  the  South,  we  meet  with  the  venerablo 


GENERAL    ASSEMBLE,    1800-1816.  409 

David  Caldwell,  long  a  patriarch  among  the  churches 
of  North  Carolina, — learned,  pious,  patriotic,  a  Revolu- 
tionary whig,  a  genial  friend  and  trusty  counsellor  as 
well  as  successful  teacher  and  able  preacher ;  Robert 
H.  Chapman,  President,  and  Joseph  Caldwell,  Professor, 
of  the  State  University,  both  from  New  Jersey,  and 
men  of  sterling  worth;  James  Hall,  of  Bethany,  a  man 
of  rare  gifts,  and,  with  his  magnificent  person  and  his 
hoary  head, — "  a  crown  of  glory," — the  beau-ideal 
of  nature's  nobleman, — untiring  in  missionaiy  zeal, 
and  shrinking  from  no  hardship ;  Andrew  Flinn,  of 
Charleston,  as  attractive  in  the  pulpit  as  unwearied  in 
his  pastorate,  winning  not  only  by  the  charm  of  his  elo- 
quence, but  by  his  grace  of  manner;  Moses  Waddel, 
of  Willington,  eminent  as  a  teacher,  subsequently  Pre- 
sident of  Georgia  University,  a  man  whose  prayerful, 
beneficent,  and  useful  life  well  earned  him  the  epithet 
"blessing  and  to  be  blessed;"  Francis  Cummins,  to 
whom  the  people  for  hundreds  of  miles  around  looked 
as  their  missionary  pastor, — a  profound  theologian,  an 
original  thinker,  and  in  the  pulpit  impressing  on  every 
hearer  his  own  deep  reverence;  and,  eminent  among 
many  others,  John  Brown,  for  several  years  Professor 
in  Oglethorpe  University,  and  pastor  at  different 
periods  of  several  churches, — humble,  unassuming,  con- 
fiding, with  the  law  of  kindness  on  his  tongue,  and 
called  by  some  of  his  parishioners  "  our  Apostle  John," 
— opening  his  lips  to  pour  forth  a  clear,  silvery  stream 
of  evangelical  instruction,  rich  with  the  stores  of  ample 
learning  and  personal  experience. 

Beyond  the  mountains,  and  in  the  new  States  of  the 
West,  there  were  men  who  had  been,  or  eventually 
were  to  be,  heard  of  on  the  Atlantic  slope, — men  like 
Blackburn,  Henderson,  Coffin,  Ramsey,  and  Anderson, 
of  Tennessee,  Rice,  Cunningham,  Balch,  Blythe,  Nel- 

Vol.  I.— 40 


470  HISTORY   OF   PRESBYTERIANISM. 

son,  Stuart,  and  Cleland,  of  Kentucky,  and  Hoge,  Gillt- 
land,  and  the  Wilsons,  of  Ohio. 

Such  were  the  men  who  held,  in  the  concluding  por- 
tion of  the  period  under  review,  the  foremost  place  in 
directing  the  councils  and  carrying  into  effect  the 
policy  of  the  Church.  We  may  indeed  regard  them  as 
representative  men.  Not  a  few  of  their  co-presbyters, 
in  humbler  spheres  or  more  remote  fields  of  labor,  were 
full  as  worthy,  full  as  gifted  as  themselves;  and  pos- 
sibly more  self-denying.  An  obscure  parish  could  en- 
joy then,  with  less  fear  of  molestation  than  now,  the 
gifts  and  graces  of  their  favorite  pastor.  Hence,  in 
quiet  country  neighborhoods,  or  perhaps  supporting 
themselves  in  part  by  labor  on  the  farm  or  in  the  work 
of  instruction,  many  were  to  be  found  whose  names 
might  have  graced  a  more  resplendent  record  than  the 
Session-book  or  the  list  of  Presbytery,  but  whose  work 
has  proved  not  less  valuable,  enduring,  or  important, 
that  the  only  star  that  hovers  over  their  names  is  that 
which  college  catalogues  affix  in  token  of  the  dead. 

Yet  the  men  who  have  been  enumerated,  while  some 
of  them,  of  course,  take  rank  above  their  less  distin- 
guished brethren  in  natural  gifts,  intellectual  culture, 
and  the  graces  of  eloquence,  were  fair  representatives 
of  the  liberal  spirit,  enlarged  policy,  and  consecrated 
aims  of  the  Church.  These  were  the  men  whose  wis- 
dom framed  and  whose  energy  executed  the  plans 
which  resulted  in  equipping  the  Church  more  fully  for 
her  mission,  enlarging,  or  perhaps  new-creating,  the 
means  of  ministerial  education,  and  perfecting  measures 
for  aggressive  evangelical  effort.  They  were  by  no 
means  fully  accordant  on  all  theological  points;  but 
they  were  kindred  in  spirit  and  harmonious  in  effort. 


PENNSYLVANIA,    1800-1820-  471 


CHAPTER  XXII. 

PENNSYLVANIA,    1800-1820. 

At  the  commencement  of  the  present  century,  tho 
Presbyterian  Church  in  Pennsylvania  was  represented 
by  the  six  Presbyteries  of  Philadelphia,  Carlisle,  Hun- 
tingdon, Redstone,  Erie,  and  Ohio, — the  three  last  con- 
nected with  the  Synod  of  Virginia.  The  Presbytery 
of  Philadelphia  consisted  of  eighteen  ministers  and 
about  twenty  churches ;  that  of  Carlisle,  of  eighteen 
ministers  and  twenty-nine  churches;  that  of  Hunting- 
don, of  twelve  ministers  and  thirty-seven  churches;  that 
of  Redstone,  of  about  twelve  ministers  and  thirty 
churches;  that  of  Erie,  of  about  eight  ministers  and 
thirty  churches;  while  that  of  Ohio  numbered1  eighteen 
ministers  and  over  thirty  churches.  The  aggregate 
within  the  bounds  of  the  State  amounted  to  not  far 
from  eighty-two  ministers  and  nearly  one  hundred  and 
eighty  churches.  Of  these,  in  repeated  instances,  two 
or  three  were  united  to  form  a  single  pastoral  charge; 
while  nearly  half  the  number  were  vacant. 

For  several  years  the  principal  growth  of  the  Church 
was  in  the  western  portion  of  the  State.  Immigration 
was  multiplying  the  new  settlements,  while  the  eastern 
and  central  portions  were  depleted  of  their  natural  in- 
crease to  swell  the  tide  that  was  drifting  toward  Ohio 
and  the  regions  South  and  West,  and  furnishing  on  the 
frontier  "the  seeds  of  new  congregations."2  The  popu- 
lation of  the  State  increased  from  1800  to  1810  at  the 

»  N.  Y.  Miss.  Mag.,  1801.  2  Minutes  for  1807,  p.  382. 


472  HISTORY    OF    PllESBYTERIANISM. 

rate  of  thirty-three  per  cent.,  and  from  1810  to  1820  at 
the  rate  of  twenty-five  per  cent.,  amounting  at  the  last 
date  to  a  little  over  one  million  of  inhabitants. 

The  increase  of  the  Church  was  not  greatly  dispro- 
portioned  to  that  of  the  population.  The  ministers 
had  increased  from  eighty-two  to  one  hundred  and 
thirty-five,  and  the  congregations  from  nearly  one 
hundred  and  eighty  to  two  hundred  and  eighty.  The 
growth  had  been  most  rapid  in  the  region  around  Pitts- 
burg. Western  immigration,  spreading  along  the  Ohio 
valley  and  the  lines  of  the  tributaries  of  that  river, 
had  begun  to  develop  the  vast  resources  of  the  West; 
and  the  southwestern  portion  of  Pennsylvania  shared 
in  the  impetus  thus  given  to  industrial  and  commercial 
enterprise. 

In  1820,  there  were  nine  Presbyteries,  mostly  within 
the  bounds  of  the  State.  Of  these,  Philadelphia,  Car- 
lisle, Huntingdon,  and  Northumberland  were  connected 
with  the  Synod  of  Philadelphia,  while  Eedstone,  Ohio, 
Erie,  Steubenville,  and  Washington  were  connected 
with  the  Synod  of  Pittsburg.  To  these  was  added  in 
1820  the  Presbytery  of  Alleghany. 

The  Presbytery  of  Philadelphia,  wThich  in  1800  had 
eighteen  ministers  and  twenty  congregations,  had  now 
twenty-six  ministers  and  thirty-seven  congregations.1 
At  Fairfield  (N.J.)  was  Ethan  Osborn,  whose  pastorate 
here  was  already  one  of  more  than  twenty  years,2  and 
was  to  continue  some  fifteen  years  longer.  At  Bridge- 
ton  and  Greenwich  (N.J.),  Jonathan  Freeman,  who  had 
been  settled  at  Newburgh  (N.Y.)  for  eight  years,  com- 
menced his  labors  as  pastor  in  1805.  and  remained  in 
the  pastorate  until  his  death  in  1822. 

1  The  report  for  1819  in  the  Assembly's  minutes  is  the  authority 
on  which  I  have  had  mainly  to  rely  for  the  following  year. 

2  Settled  previous  to  1795. 


PENNSYLVANIA,    1800-1820.  473 

His  predecessors  in  the  pastorate  were  George  Fai- 
toute  •  and  William  Clarkson.2  At  Allen's  Township 
(Alientown)  was  Robert  Russell,  who  succeeded  Francis 
Peppard  in  the  pastorate  previous  to  1800,  and  who  had 
.been  laboring  here,  therefore,  for  more  than  twenty 
years.  At  Deep  Run8  and  Doylestown  was  Uriah  Du- 
bois, a  descendant  of  Louis  Dubois,  a  Huguenot  refugee 
who  settled  at  New  Paltz  in  Ulster  county,  N.Y.,  in  1660. 
He  was  himself  a  native  of  New  Jersey,  a  graduate  of 
the  University  of  Pennsylvania  in  1790,  a  theological 
pupil  of  Dr.  Ashbel  Green,  and  in  1796  a  licentiate  of 
the  Presbytery  of  Philadelphia.  He  was  installed, 
Dec.  16,  1798,  as  pastor  of  the  churches  of  Deep  Run 
and  Tinicum;  but,  resigning  the  latter  in  1804,  he  re- 
moved from  Deep  Run  to  Doj^lestown,  where  he  be- 
came Principal  of  a  large  and  flourishing  school,  and 
where  also  he  established  a  Presbyterian  congregation, 
to  which,  in  connection  with  that  of  Deep  Run,  he  con- 
tinued to  minister  to  the  close  of  his  life,  Sept.  10, 1821. 
He  was  a  man  of  great  energy  and  industry,  an  excel- 
lent classical  scholar,  an  accomplished  instructor,  and 
an  earnest  and  attractive  preacher.4  His  successor  for 
a  short  period  was  Charles  Hyde. 

At  Great  Valley  and  Charlestown  was  William  Latta, 
the  successor  of  John  Simonton  and  John  Gemmil.  He 
waB  a  son  of  James  Latta,  and  a  graduate  of  Pennsyl- 
vania University  in  1794.  In  1799*  he  wTas  installed, 
and  his  pastorate  continued  until  February,  1847,  when 
he  had  nearly  completed  his  fourscore  years.5  He  was 
a  fine  scholar  and  a  graceful  writer. 

In  the  city  of  Philadelphia,  the  pastors  of  the  Pres- 

1  Assembly's  Minutes  for  1789. 

2  Assembly's  Minutes  for  1800. 

3  James  Latta  was  pastor  here  from  17G1  to  1770. 

4  Sprague,  iii   200.  &  Sprague,  iii.  205. 


474  HISTORY    OF    PRESBYTERIANISM. 

byterian  churches  in  1820  were  Drs.  "Wilson,  Janewayj 
Ely,  Potts,  Skinner,  and  Neill;  while  John  Gloucester 
had  charge  of  the  African  Church.  The  pastorate  of 
James  Patriot  Wilson  over  the  Pirst  Church  extended 
from  May,  1806,  to  the  spring  of  1830.  Dr.  Ewing  had, 
died  in  1802,  and  John  Blair  Linn,  who  was  settled  in 
1799  as  co-pastor  with  him,  closed  his  ministry  with 
his  life,  in  August,  1804,  at  the  early  age  of  twenty- 
seven. 

Dr.  Linn  was  a  son  of  Dr.  William  Linn,  one  of  the 
pastors  of  the  Reformed  Dutch  Collegiate  Church  of 
New  York.  After  his  graduation  at  Columbia  College, 
in  1795,  at  the  age  of  eighteen,  he  commenced  the  study 
of  law  with  the  celebrated  Alexander  Hamilton.  But 
this  pursuit  was  far  from  a  congenial  one.  His  taste 
for  poetry  and  elegant  literature  revolted  from  dry 
legal  technicalities,  and  his  mind,  under  the  serious  im- 
pressions made  upon  it  by  more  mature  reflection, 
was  drawn  to  the  Christian  ministry.  Under  Dr.  Ro- 
meyn,  of  Schenectady,  he  pursued  his  theological  studies 
with  great  ardor,  and  after  his  licensure,  in  1798,  the 
popularity  of  his  first  pulpit  efforts  gave  brilliant  pro- 
mise for  his  future.  But  the  severe,  duties  of  his  pas- 
torate were  too  much  for  a  constitution  at  best  feeble, 
and  anxiety,  care,  and  intellectual  effort  told  with 
speedy  effect  upon  his  sanguine  temperament,  his  ex- 
quisite sensibilities,  and  his  delicate  frame.  He  had  the 
brilliant  gifts,  but  he  had  also  the  infirmities,  of  genius. 
A  fancied  slight  destroyed  his  composure;  and  he 
dwelt  more  on  the  dark  than  the  bright  side  of  the 
picture  of  life.  His  poetic  inclinations  were  perhaps 
too  freely  indulged,  and  he  was  too  ready  to  draw  upon 
the  strength  that  should  have  been  reserved  for  the 
more  plain  and  prosaic  duties  of  life.  His  published 
poems,  for  one  so  youthful,  were  quite  numerous;  and 
one  of  them  was  republished  in  England.     Nor  did  he 


PENNSYLVANIA,    1800-1820.  475 

shrink  from  the  arena  of  controversy.  His  reply  to 
Dr.  Priestley  indicated  vigorous  intellect  and  exten- 
sive research.1  But,  while  with  years  his  mind  became 
more  equable,  he  was  still  haunted  by  gloomy  fancies. 
He  doubted  his  adequacy  to  the  duties  of  the  minis- 
try; he  scrupled  his  right  to  salary  for  such  services 
as  he  could  render;  he  looked  upon  his  spiritual  state 
with  frequent  and  deep  distrust.  In  August,  1804,  the 
frail  tenement  which  had  been  racked  by  too  exquisite 
sensibilities  and  imprudent  efforts  gave  way,  and  the 
hopes  inspired  by  his  early  attainments  were  finally 
blighted. 

His  successor,  Dr.  Wilson,  was,  at  the  time  of  Dr. 
Linn's  death,  pastor  of  Lewes,  in  Delaware,  his  native 
place,  where  his  father  had  for  many  years  labored  in 
the  ministry.  Graduated  at  the  University  of  Penn- 
sylvania in  1788,  he  had  fitted  himself  for  the  bar,  en- 
tered upon  the  practice  of  law,  and  attained  a  repu- 
tation unsurpassed  perhaps  in  his  native  State.  The 
skepticism  of  his  earlier  years  was  disturbed  by  a  series 
of  distressing  afflictions,  and  he  was  finally  brought,  by 
reflection  and  examination,  not  only  to  a  conviction  of 
the  truth  of  Christianity,  but  to  a  full  and  hearty  ac- 
ceptance of  it.  He  at  once  relinquished  the  honors  and 
emoluments  of  his  profession,  and  devoted  himself  to 
the  ministry.  After  ten  years'  labor  in  Delaware,  he 
entered  upon  the  pastorate  of  the  First  Church  in  Phila- 
delphia, where  he  remained  for  about  a  quarter  of  a 
century. 

Few  names  in  the  history  of  the  Church  are  entitled 
to  more  honorable  mention  than  that  of  Dr.  Wilson. 
His  was  one  of  the  leading  minds  of  the  denomination. 
Of  tall  stature,  with  a  countenance  grave  rather  than 
animated,  his  features  bore  the  stamp  of  kindly  feeling 

1  Sprague,  iv.  212. 


476  HISTORY    OP    PRESBYTERIANISM. 

and  high  intelligence.  Uniformly  urbane  and  obliging, 
fastidiously  modest,  of  a  truly  catholic  and  liberal 
spirit,  he  was  the  model  of  a  Christian  gentleman.  His 
learning  was  thorough  and  extensive.  Almost  a  recluse 
in  his  habits,  he  devoted  himself  to  study,  and  was 
perhaps  the  only  clergyman  in  the  country  of  whom  it 
might  be  said  that  he  not  only  had  read  all  the  Greek 
and  Latin  Fathers,  but  that  "he  almost  literally  lived 
among  them/'1  Yet  he  was  by  no  means  a  mere  pedant 
or  bookworm.  Few  men  have  ever  so  thoroughly  di- 
gested their  laboriously  acquired  knowledge.  His  mind 
was  disciplined  to  its  tasks ;  and,  though  he  never  used 
a  note  or  read  a  line  in  the  pulpit,  the  logic  of  his  ar- 
gument was  clear,  concise,  consecutive,  and  conclusive. 
On  a  blank  leaf  of  the  Tract  by  Ware  on  "  Extempo- 
raneous Preaching"  he  left  the  following  testimony 
over  his  own  signature: — "I  have  preached  twenty 
years,  and  have  never  written  a  full  sermon  in  my  life, 
and  never  read  one  word  of  a  sermon  from  the  pulpit, 
nor  opened  a  note,  nor  committed  a  sentence,  and  have 
rarely  wandered  five  minutes  at  a  time  from  my  mental 
arrangement  previously  made." 

His  piety  was  in  keeping  with  his  simplicity  and 
humility.  His  convictions  of  the  truth  of  what  he 
preached  were  firmly  grounded  in  his  own  experience.1 
His  sermons,  if  rarely  imaginative,  were  replete  with 
lucid  exposition  or  solid  instruction.  He  sought  to 
bring  forth  the  real  meaning  and  to  elucidate  the 
teachings  of  the  Scriptures.    Erudite,  and  usually  un- 

1  Sprague,  iv.  359. 

2  He  once  sent  to  Dr.  Green  a  Hopkinsian  work,  together  with  a 
note  expressing  his  views  of  it.  "  The  first  dissertation,"  he  says, 
"would  require  me  to  change  my  prayers  ;  the  second  would  invert 
the  order  of  my  conceptions  ;  the  third,  alter  my  Bible  ;  the  fourth, 
make  me  abandon  God's  justice  and  frustrate  his  grace  in  Jesus 
Christ." 


PENNSYLVANIA,     1800-1820.  177 

impassioned,  none  would  mistake  him  for  a  brilliant, 
but  all  would  adie.it  him  to  be  an  able,  man. 

His  eccentricities  might  many  of  them  excite  a 
smile,  but  they  were  never  assumed  for  effect,  and  they 
threw  Light  on  his  generous,  noble,  kindly,  or  modest 
bearing.  He  did  not  like  to  be  put  under  obligation 
to  any  one.  He  was  even  proudly  independent.  For 
mere  forms  he  had  no  relish,  and  for  mere  authority 
no  reverence.  A  rigid  Presbyterian  ism  was  by  no 
means  to  his  taste.  His  dislike  of  all  egotism  was 
attested  by  a  sometimes  almost  ludicrous  use  of  the 
regal  plural, — we.  His  sensitiveness  to  any  thing  inde- 
corous was  extreme.  But  one  who  had  ever  listened 
to  his  familiar,  instructive,  and  edifying  conversation, 
or  who  had  ever  felt  the  impress  of  his  warm,  loving 
heart,  or  who  had  followed  him  in  his  clear  and  forcible 
presentation  of  the  sublime  truths  of  revelation,  would 
have  felt  that  all  his  peculiarities  were  lost  from  view, 
like  spots  on  the  disk  of  the  sun.1  His  impetuousness 
when  engaged  in  debate  or  controversy — so  unlike  his 
ordinary  manner — was  studiously  checked;  and  when 
he  feared  that  he  could  not  master  it  he  would  absent 
himself  from  the  place  of  meeting. 

The  pastor  of  the  Second  Presbyterian  Church — till 
1812  the  colleague  of  Dr.  Green — was  Jacob  J.  Janeway, 
whose  long  term  of  public  service  has  made  his  name 
familiar  in  the  annals  of  the  Church.  A  native  of  New 
York  City,  a  graduate  of  Columbia  College  in  1794,  and 
a  student  of  theologj^  under  Dr.  Livingston,  of  the  Ee- 

1  Dr.  Ely  states  that  he  once  heard  Dr.  Ashbel  Green  say  of  him- 
self and  Dr.  Wilson  that  they  were  both  proud  men.  "  But  I  am 
proud,"  said  Dr.  Green,  "  and  know  it ;  he  is  proud,  and  is  ignorant 
of  it."  Dr.  Green  doubtless  pronounced  him  proud,  because  he 
had  too  much  independence  to  be  the  satellite  of  any  man,  even  of 
Dr.  Green.  One  who  knew  him  intimately  has  pronounced  hira 
remarkable  for  humility. 


478  HISTORY  of  tresbyterianism. 

formed  Dutch  Church,  he  was  ordained  as  colleague 
pastor  of  Dr.  Green  in  1799.  Here  he  remained  till 
called  in  1826  to  the  Theological  Professorship  in  the 
Western  Seminary  at  Alleghany  City.  This  post  he 
retained  but  a  short  time,  and  from  1830  to  1839  was 
connected  with  the  Reformed  Dutch  Church,  as  pastor 
in  New  Brunswick  (1830- 32)  and  Vice-President  of 
Rutgers  College  (1833-39).  His  closing  years  were 
devoted  to  the  promotion  of  the  various  benevolent 
enterprises  of  the  Church,  in  connection  with  its  Boards. 
At  the  age  of  eighty-four,  after  a  gradual  decline,  he 
died  at  New  Brunswick. 

Neither  remarkably  profound  nor  brilliant,  he  was 
yet  a  man  to  inspire  respect  and  confidence  :  conserva- 
tive in  council,  discreet,  yet  prompt  in  action,  he  was 
ever  ready  for  every  good  cause  and  work.  By  his 
influence  and  example  he  contributed  largely  to  the 
prosperity  of  the  Church  and  her  institutions.  His 
liberality  was  marked,  and  on  principle  he  gave  away 
in  charity  one-fifth  of  his  annual  income.  Kind,  affec- 
tionate, easy  of  access,  he  was  venerated  and  loved  by 
all  who  formed  his  acquaintance. 

In  the  Third  Church,  as  successor  to  Dr.  Alexander, 
was  Ezra  Stiles  Ely,  son  of  Rev.  Zebulon  Ely,  of  Lebanon, 
Conn.,  where  the  father  was  settled  and  where  the  son 
was  born.  His  first  settlement  was  in  Westchester 
parish,  in  the  town  of  Colchester,  Conn. ;  and  at  that 
time  his  course  was  scarcely  such  as  his  later  years 
would  approve.  But  a  change  at  length  took  place,  and 
the  rash  fancies  or  ill-regulated  humor  of  youth  gave 
place,  at  least  to  a  great  extent,  to  a  genuine  devotion 
to  the  work  of  the  ministry.  Zealous  in  behalf  of  the 
vital  doctrines  of  the  gospel,  he  believed  them  to  have 
been  assailed  by  Hopkinsian  error;  and  forthwith  he 
placed  himself  at  the  head  of  its  opponents,  and  through 
the  press  and  in  the  ecclesiastical  assemblies  sought  to 


1800-1820.  479 

smite  it  down.  His  octavo  volume  in  which  various 
heresies  are  ranged  in  parallel  columns  is  a  literary,  or 
perhaps  we  should  say  a  theological,  curiosity.  Time, 
however,  cooled  his  anti-Hopkinsian  zeal,  or  rather  it 
subsided  into  a  genial  and  kindly  recognition  of  the 
Christian  character  and  worth  of  those  whom  he  found 
upon  acquaintance  to  be,  in  spite  of  every  prejudice,  his 
brethren  in  Christ. 

A  man  of  his  active  mercurial  temperament  could 
not  be  idle.  He  was  identified  with  all  schemes  of 
benevolence,  constantly  engaged  in  works  of  charity 
for  the  poor  and  suffering,  and  in  all  projects  of  Chris- 
tian enterprise  stood  ready,  both  byword  and  example, 
to  endorse  and  commend  them.  His  house  was  ever 
open  to  all  who  loved  his  Master,  and  ministers  and 
students  shared  his  Christian  hospitalities,  not  niggardly 
bestowed.  His  literary  ability  placed  him  in  the  front 
rank  of  those  who  exerted  influence  by  the  tongue  or 
pen.  While  preaching  to  his  own  charge,  and  attend- 
ing to  the  duties  of  a  pastor  as  well  as  a  preacher,  he 
was  also  editor  of  the  "Philadelphian,"  and  proved 
himsetf  ready  as  a  writer  as  well  as  skilful  in  argu- 
ment. The  journal  of  his  experience  during  his  labors 
in  New  York,  where  he  was  residing  when  called  to 
Philadelphia,  was  reprinted  in  England,  under  the  title 
of  "  Visits  of  Mercy."  In  1828,  he  published  his  "  Col- 
lateral Bible,  or  Key  to  the  Holy  Scriptures,"  and  sub- 
sequently a  memoir  of  his  father.  His  labors  showed 
him  to  be  a  man  of  determination  and  enthusiasm, 
more  than  of  cold  calculation.  Quick  and  clear,  rather 
than  profound,  his  sermons  were  enriched  with  frequent 
illustrations;  and,  gifted  with  a  voice  musical  and  dis- 
tinct, and  a  full  enunciation,  and  possessed  of  a  self- 
reliance  that  never  gave  way,  he  moulded  his  audiences 
at  will. 

From  1825  to  183G  he  was  stated  clerk  of  the  General 


480  HISTORY    OF    PRESBYTERIANISM. 

Assembly,  and  m  1828  he  was  chosen  its  moderator  . 
In  1834,  he  conceived  the  plan  of  establishing  a  college 
(Marion)  in  Missouri,  and  in  connection  with  it  a  theo- 
logical seminary;  but  the  financial  crisis  of  1837  over- 
whelmed the  project  with  defeat,  and  in  1844,  after 
his  return  to  Philadelphia,  he  resumed  his  ministerial 
duties  as  pastor  of  the  First  Presbyterian  Church, 
Northern  Liberties,  where  with  unabated  zeal  he 
labored  till  struck  dow^n  by  paralysis  in  1851.  His 
mind  was  thenceforth  a  wreck  :  yet  for  ten  years  longer 
he  lingered,  manifesting  at  intervals  the  religious  sym- 
pathies of  his  heart. 

The  pastor  of  the  Fourth  Church  was  George  C. 
Potts,1  an  emigrant  from  Ireland  in  the  stormy  times 
of  1797-98.  A  native  of  that  country,  he  had  been  edu- 
cated at  the  University  of  Glasgow,  and  licensed  to 
preach  by  the  Presbytery  of  Monaghan.  But  the  zeal 
with  which  he  espoused  the  cause  of  his  country's 
independence  rendered  his  longer  residence  in  Ireland 
unsafe,  and  he  directed  his  course  to  this  country. 
After  preaching  for  some  time  to  vacant  churches  in 
Pennsylvania  and  Delaware,  he  removed  to  Philadel- 
phia. Here,  with  the  sanction  of  the  Presbytery,  he 
undertook  to  gather  a  new  congregation  in  the  south- 
ern part  of  the  city ;  and  his  labors  were  crowned  with 
success.  In  June,  1800,  he  was  installed  pastor  of  the 
church,  which  from  small  beginnings  became  large 
and  flourishing.  Popular  as  a  preacher,  faithful  in  the 
discharge  of  pastoral  duty,  distinguished  for  sound 
judgment  and  kindly  and  liberal  spirit,  he  was  spared 
to  complete  a  pastorate  of  thirty-six  years  over  the 
same  church.     His  death  occurred  September  23, 1838. 

The  Fifth   Church  was  under  the  pastoral  care  of 

1  Father  of  Dr.  George  Potts,  pastor  of  the  church  in  University 
Place,  N.Y. 


PENNSYLVANIA,    1800-  IS20.  481 

'Thomas  II.  Skinner,  who  had  commenced  his  labors  in 
Philadelphia,  some  years  previous,  as  co-pastor — upon 
the  dismission  of  Dr.  Green — of  Dr.  Janeway,  of   the 

Second  Church.1  With  this  Second  Church  the  First 
Church  of  the  Northern  Liberties  was  connected,  the 
two  constituting  a  single  pastoral  charge  under  Messrs. 
Janeway  and  Skinner.  But  it  was  thought  that  the 
interests  of  religion  would  be  best  promoted  by  sur- 
rendering the  Church  of  the  Northern  Liberties  to  a 
single  pastor,  who  should  devote  to  it  his  whole  time 
and  energies.  James  Patterson,  of  Bound  Brook,  N.J., 
was  accordingly  called  to  take  charge  of  it.  and  was 
installed  January  11,  1814.  For  one  year  longer  the 
pastors  of  the  Second  Church  continued  to  preach  once 
on  each  Sabbath  at  Northern  Liberties;  but  after  this 
the  new  church  was  left  to  the  care  of  the  pastor 
alone. 

-Meanwhile,  in  hearty  co-operation  with  Mr.  Patterson 
in  revival  efforts,  and  through  an  enlarged  acquaintance 
with  the  ]\Tew  England  divines,  the  views  of  Mr.  Skin- 
ner on  some  theological  points  had  become  more  de- 
cidedly Edwardian,  and  his  preaching  gave  evidence 
of  the  fact.  He  was  indeed  on  this  account — although 
unjustly — charged  with  holding  Hopkinsian  tenets,  and 
a  portion  of  the  Second  Church  became  disaffected 
toward  him  as  colleague  pastor.  Such  was  the  feel- 
ing of  opposition  that  charges  of  heresy  were  brought 

1  Dr.  Skinner  is  said  to  have  been  awakened  under  the  preaching 
of  Benjamin  H.  Rice,  while  the  latter,  laboring  as  a  missionary  of 
the  General  Assembly,  was  itinerating  in  North'Carolina.  Mr.  Kice 
preached  two  sermons  at  Edenton.  on  a  certain  Sabbath,  and 
among  his  hearers  (1811-12)  was  Dr.  Skinner,  then  a  student  of 
law.  He  went  to  hear,  not  without  strong  prejudice  both  against 
the  preacher  and  the  truth  ;  but  his  prejudices  were  overcome,  and 
the  sermons  were  made  instrumental  in  his  conversion. — Obituary 
Sermon  on  Dr.  Rice,  by  W.  F..  Schenk. 

Vol.  I.— 41 


482  HISTORY    OF    PRESBYTERIANISM. 

against  him,  and  a  request  was  presented  to  Presbytery 
that  his  pastoral  relation  to  the  church  might  be  dis- 
solved. The  injustice  of  the  charge  was  manifest  to  the 
Presbytery  •  and  so  long  as  it  was  not  withdrawn,  Mr. 
Skinner  persisted  in  opposing  the  request  of  the  disaf- 
fected portion  of  the  congregation.  But  upon  its  with- 
drawal and  the  adoption  of  a  compromise  which  secured 
his  own  rights  and  those  of  his  friends,  he  felt  it  ex- 
pedient and  desirable  that  his  pastoral  relation  to  the 
church  should  cease.  It  was  accordingly  dissolved  by 
Presbytery  (Nov.  5,  1815),  and,  together  with  the  por- 
tion of  the  congregation  which  still  adhered  to  him, 
he  withdrew,  accepting  a  call  to  the  Fifth  Church,  which 
occupied  a  small  house  in  an  uninviting  locality  in 
Locust  Street. 

This  church  had  been  gathered  in  1810  by  James  K. 
Burch,  a  native  of  Albemarle  county,  Va.,  and  a  gra- 
duate of  Washington  College  at  Lexington.  He  was 
licensed  and  ordained  by  Orange  Presbytery  in  1807, 
and,  after  preaching  for  some  time  at  Newbern  and 
afterward  at  Washington,  was,  through  the  influence  of 
Dr.  Alexander,  introduced  to  the  pulpit  of  a  Reformed 
Dutch  congregation  then  worshipping  in  the  Fourth 
Street  Academy,  Philadelphia.  It  was  his  desire  to 
have  them  connect  themselves  with  the  Presbyterian 
Church,  and,  when  they  declined  to  do  so,  he  left  them, 
and,  with  a  colony  that  was  organized  as  the  Fifth 
Presbyterian  Church,  commenced  his  pastorate,  which, 
with  varied  experience,  was  continued  till  a  short  time 
previous  to  Mr.  Skinner's  dismissal.  A  man  of  more 
than  ordinary  eloquence,  but  greatly  lacking  in  stabi- 
lity, he  was  quite  unfitted  to  secure  the  confidence  in 
himself  or  his  measures  which  was  necessary  to  build 
up  a  prosperous  congregation. 

The  church  was  at  the  lowest  point  of  depression 
when  Mr.  Skinner  took  charge  of  it;    and  for  seven 


PENNSYLVANIA,    1800-1820.  483 

years,  until  his  call  to  New  Orleans  in  1*22,  his  labors 
in   its    behalf   were   devoted    and   unremitting.     But, 

although  not  without  result,  his  efforts  were  not  pros- 
pered as  in  other  circumstances  they  might  have  been; 
and  at  this  juncture  it  was  resolved  by  his  friends,  as 
the  only  method  of  retaining  him  in  the  city,  to  seek 
out  a  new  locality.  This  was  found  in  Arch  Street, 
near  Tenth.  Here  a  large  and  commodious  house  of 
worship  was  soon  erected,  and  it  was  not  long  before 
crowded  assemblies  testified  to  the  popularity  and  suc- 
cess of  the  new  enterprise.  The  clear,  forcible,  logical, 
earnest  presentation  of  truth1  from  the  lips  of  the 
youthful  pastor  produced  a  deep  impression,  and  ere 
long  the  prosperity  of  the  church  was  fully  assured. 
For  many  years  Dr.  Skinner  remained  in  the  pastorate 
of  the  church, — at  a  later  period  filling  posts  of  honor 
in  the  Seminaries  of  Andover  and  New  York,  and  in 
the  pastorate  of  the  Mercer  Street  Church,  gathered 
by  his  labors  in  the  latter  city. 

The  Sixth  Church  was  organized  in  1815-16,2  and  its 
first  pastor  was  William  Neill.  A  native  of  Western 
Pennsylvania  (1778),  he  was  exposed  in  early  years  to 
the  hardships  of  frontier  life,  and,  while  yet  a  child, 
both  his  parents  were  killed  by  the  Indians.  Thrown 
thus  as  an  orphan  upon  the  kindness  of  generous  friends, 
he  was  placed  by  them  in  a  store  at  Canonsburg,  where 
he  enjoyed  the  pastoral  oversight  of  Dr.  McMillan.  Here 
he  was  converted,  and  immediately  resolved  to  devote 
himself  to  the  ministry.     Completing  his  preparatory 

1  Dr.  J.  W.  Alexander,  in  his  Letters,  vol.  i.  p.  75,  speaks  of  "the 
unanswerable  arguments  of  Dr.  Wilson,  and  the  pungent  appeals 
of  Mr.  Skinner." 

2  The  Sixth  Church  grew  out  of  a  division  of  the  old  Pine  Street 
Church,  of  which  Dr.  Alexander  was  pastor  when  called  to  Prince- 
ton in  1812.  On  the  settlement  of  Dr.  Ely,  soon  after,  the  division 
took  place,  nnd  the  Sixth  Church  was  formed. 


484  HISTORY    OF    PRESBYTERIANISM. 

studies  at  the  Old  Academy,  be  directed  his  course  to 
Princeton,  where  he  was  graduated  in  1803.  Engaging 
subsequently  as  tutor  in  the  college,  and  prosecuting 
at  the  same  time  his  theological  studies,  he  received  in 
1805  a  call  to  the  church  at  Cooperstown,  where  he 
labored  till  1809,  when  he  was  called  to  the  charge  of 
the  First  Presbyterian  Church  of  Albany.  Here  he 
remained  until  his  removal  to  Philadelphia. 

In  1824  he  was  called  to  the  Presidency  of  Dickinson 
College,  which  he  retained  till  1829,  when  he  became 
Secretary  and  General  Agent  for  the  Board  of  Educa- 
tion. After  two  years'  service,  he  relinquished  the  posi- 
tion, and  commenced  his  labors  with  the  Germantown 
church,  which  had  maintained  for  some  years  a  some- 
what precarious  existence,  and  which  he  found  in  a 
deplorable  condition, — broken  down,  peeled  and  scat- 
tered, with  few  symptoms  of  spiritual  life.  In  1842  he 
left  this  field,  and  ceased  from  the  active  duties  of  the 
pastorate.  He  survived,  however,  in  the  gradual  decay 
of  his  vital  powers,  till  1860. 

Active,  devoted,  and  useful,  he  stood  ever  ready  to 
meet  the  calls  of  duty  and  supply  others'  lack  of  ser- 
vice by  extra  diligence  of  his  own.  His  preaching  was 
lucid  and  replete  with  gospel  truth,  and  persuasive  and 
tender  in  appeal.  As  a  pastor,  he  was  exemplary  in 
looking  after  the  interests  of  his  flock.  His  successors 
were  John  II.  Kennedy,  and  subsequently  S.  G.  Win- 
chester. 

The  Seventh  Church  was  established  in  1820-21,  occu- 
pying the  building — Eanstead  Place — which  had  beer 
erected  for  the  use  of  an  Independent  church  some  years 
previous.  The  latter  church  was  organized  in  1810-11 
mainly  through  the  exertions  of  a  Mr.  Hay,  from  Lon- 
don, and  in  1812  he  was  succeeded  in  the  pastorate  of 
the  church  by  the  Eev.  John  Joyce.  Upon  the  failure 
of  the  enterprise,  the  building  was  purchased  by  Messrs. 


PENNSYLVANIA,    1800-1820.  485 

Ralston  and  Henry  of  the  Second  Church,  and  devoted 
to  the  use  of  the  congregation  under  Rev.  Wm.  E 
Engles,  which  assumed  the  name  or"  the  Seventh  Church 

The  Eighth  or  Scots'  Church  had  been  in  existence 
for  some  years,  but  first  came  into  connection  with  the 
General  Assembly  upon  the  union  with  it  of  the  As- 
sociate Reformed  body  in  1822.  In  the  following  year, 
William  L.  McCalla  was  installed  pastor,  and  remained 
in  this  connection  till  1835,  when  lie  was  succeeded  by 
Alexander  Macklin.  Fiercely  orthodox,  Mr.  McCalla's 
zeal  was  sometimes  excessive;  acute,  chivalrous,  gene- 
rous, fearing  not  the  face  of  man,  it  was  to  his  praise 
that  he  never  failed  to  acknowledge  that  he  feared 
God.  His  construction  of  the  constitution  of  the  Church 
was  rigid,  and  he  made  no  concealment  of  his  senti- 
ments, however  obnoxious.  His  pulpit  talents  are  said 
to  have  placed  him  in  the  front  rank  of  the  clerical 
orators  of  his  day,  and  under  his  ministrations  the 
church  became  large  and  influential.  Mr.  McCalla 
was  dismissed  from  his  people  at  his  own  request, 
though  parting  from  them  with  strong  regret.  After 
an  absence  of  two  or  three  years,  during  which  he 
travelled  at  the  South,  and  is  said  to  have  extended 
his  journey  to  the  wilds  of  Texas,  he  returned  to 
Philadelphia,  and  gathered  a  congregation — composed 
in  part  of  members  of  his  former  charge — which  met 
in  a  building  at  the  corner  of  Fifth  and  Gaskill 
Streets.1 

The  Ninth  Church  was  organized  about  the  year 
1823,  and  in  1825  reported  a  membership  of  a  little  over 
one  hundred,  but  in  1828  had  fallen  to  forty-three.  Sub- 
sequently Wm.  J.  Gibson  was  installed  as  pastor;  and 
in  1836  the  membership  had  increased  to  three  hundred 
and  sixty-six. 

1  Reported  (1837-8)  as  the  Fourth  Church. 
41^ 


486  HISTORY    OF    PRESBYTERIANISM. 

In  1828-29,  the  Tenth,  Eleventh,  and  Twelfth  Churches 
are  first  named  in  the  minutes  of  the  Assembly.  Shortly 
after,  Thomas  M'Auley  was  called  to  the  pastorate  of 
the  Tenth,  John  L.  Grant  to  that  of  the  Eleventh,  and 
Thomas  Eustace  to  that  of  the  Twelfth.  Meanwhile  (pre- 
vious to  1836)  the  churches  of  Germantown  (gathered 
about  1818  by  the  labor  of  a  devoted  layman,  afterward 
licensed,  by  the  name  of  Magoffin),  Southwark,  and  the 
Second  of  Northern  Liberties,  had  been  gathered,  of  the 
former  of  which  James  Rooker  was  pastor,  and  of  the 
second  of  which  Truman  Osborn  was  stated  supply, — 
succeeded  soon  after  by  Charles  Hoover, — while  of  the 
third  James  Smith  wTas  pastor.  The  Second  Church 
of  Southwark,  first  reported  in  1827,  with  a  member- 
ship of  twenty-seven,  had  William  Ramsey  for  some 
years  as  stated  supply,  succeeded  in  1830-31  by  Samuel 
Bertron,  soon  after  which  the  church  disappears  from 
the  roll  of  Presbytery. 

Upon  the  death  of  Joseph  Sanford,  who  had  succeeded 
Dr.  Janeway  (1829-31)  in  the  pastorate  of  the  Second 
Church,  the  Central  Church  was  organized  by  a  colony, 
and  Dr.  McDowell  was  called  from  Elizabethtown  to  the 
pastorate  of  it.  In  1836,  the  Western  Church,  with 
twenty-six  members,  and  "Arch  above  Tenth,"  with 
ninety-two  members,  are  reported. 

The  First  African  Church,  founded  in  1807,  owed  its 
existence,  and  for  many  years  its  continued  support, 
largely  to  the  "Evangelical  Society  of  Philadelphia," 
organized  upon  the  recommendation  and  through  the 
influence  of  Dr.  Alexander.1  Its  first  pastor,  although 
never  installed,  was  John  Gloucester,  a  slave  of  Dr. 
Blackburn,  of  Tennessee.  He  had  attracted  the  atten- 
tion of  the  latter,  under  whose  preaching  he  was  con- 
verted, by  his  piety  and  natural  gifts,  and  by  him  Avas 

1  Semi-centenary  Discourse,  by  Rev.  W.  T.  Catto,  pastor. 


PENNSYLVANIA,    1800-1820.  487 

purchased,  and  encouraged  to  study  with  a  view  to  the 
ministry.  After  having  been  licensed  and  ordained  by 
Union  Presbytery,  be  was  in  1810  received  from  that 
body  by  the  Philadelphia  Presbytery,  and,  under  the 
patronage  of  the  "  Evangelical  Society,"  continued  in 
charge  of  the  African  Church  until  his  death  in  1*22. 
The  house  of  worship,  located  on  the  corner  of  Shippen 
and  Seventh  Streets,  was  completed  in  1811. 

Mr.  Gloucester  first  commenced  his  missionary  efforts 
by  preaching  in  private  houses;  but  these  were  soon 
found  insufficient  to  accommodate  his  congregations. 
A  school-house  was  procured  near  the  site  of  the  future 
edifice;  but  in  clear  weather  he  preached  in  the  open 
air.  Possessed  of  a  strong  and  musical  voice,  he  would 
take  his  stand  on  the  corner  of  Shippen  and  Seventh 
Streets,  and  while  singing  a  hymn  would  gather  around 
him  many  besides  his  regular  hearers,  and  hold  their 
attention  till  he  was  prepared  to  commence  his  exer- 
cises. Possessed  of  a  stout,  athletic  frame,  and  charac- 
terized by  prudence,  forbearance,  and  a  fervent  piety, 
he  labored  with  unremitting  zeal,  securing  the  confi- 
dence and  respect  of  his  brethren  of  the  Presbytery,  and 
building  up  the  congregation  which  he  had  gathered. 
His  freedom  was  granted  him  by  Dr.  Blackburn,  and 
by  his  own  application  he  secured  the  means  in  Eng- 
land and  this  country  to  purchase  the  freedom  of  his 
family.  He  is  said  to  have  been  a  man  of  strong  mind, 
mighty  in  prayer,  and  of  such  fervor  and  energy  in 
wrestling  supplication  that  persons  sometimes  fell  under 
its  power,  convicted  of  sin. 

On  March  23, 1814,  the  First  Presbyterian  Church  of 
Kensington  was  organized,  with  only  seven  members. 
Its  first,  and  for  nearly  half  a  century  its  only,  pastor, 
was  George  Chandler,  a  native  of  Middletown,  Connec- 
ticut, a  graduate  of  Yale  College,  and  in  1813  a  licentiate 
or'  Huntingdon  Presbytery.    He  had  preached  for  a  short 


488  HISTORY    OF    TRESBYTERIANISM. 

time  at  Newark,  when  he  was  called  to  take  charge  of 
this  feeble  congregation.  Its  prospects  were  far  from 
promising  j  but  he  proved  to  be  a  devoted  minister  and 
a  hard  worker,  attending  conscientiously  and  faithfully 
to  his  own  duties,  and  in  other  respects  almost  seclud- 
ing himself  from  public  notice.  Not  great,  but  good, 
soundly  orthodox,  but  liberal  toward  those  who  dif- 
fered from  him,  a  warm  friend  of  revivals,  and  em- 
ploying unhesitatingly  all  lawful  means  to  lead  sinners 
to  Christ,  his  ministerial  life  for  forty-five  years  was 
one  of  quiet  usefulness.  He  received  to  the  com- 
munion of  his  church,  during  his  protracted  ministry, 
between  thirteen  hundred  and  fourteen  hundred  mem- 
bers. Spared  to  baptize,  marry,  and  bury  successive  gene- 
rations, he  commanded  to  the  last  increasing  respect 
and  affection.  Kensington  Church  was  the  home  of 
his  heart.  He  had  no  ambition  for  fame  or  ecclesias- 
tical eminence.  Lively,  fluent,  earnest,  sincere,  and 
intelligent  as  a  preacher,  he  sought  only  success  in  his 
Master's  work.  Every  good  cause  found  in  him  a  warm 
and  steadfast  friend ;  and  in  the  habitual  exercise  of  a 
meek  and  quiet  spirit  he  discharged  his  long,  laborious, 
and  successful  ministry,  leaving  behind  him  a  name, 
example,  and  memory  worthy  of  lasting  honor.  He 
died  in  1860,  and  on  his  marble  monument  is  the  just 
inscription,  "  He  was  the  representative  of  Christianity 
in  its  purity." 

At  this  period  the  First  Church,  Northern  Liberties, 
had  for  its  pastor  a  man  who  seemed  to  combine  the 
pungency  of  a  Baxter  with  the  zeal  of  an  apostle 
His  church,  which  for  some  years  had  been  a  portion 
of  the  charge  of  the  two  co-pastors  of  the  Second 
Church  of  the  city,  in  1813  unanimously  called  James 
Patterson — who,  since  1809,  had  been  settled  at  Bound 
Brook,  N.J. — as  their  pastor.  He  was  installed  Jan.  11, 
1814,  and  entered  at  once  upon  a  difficult  and  hitherto 


PENNSYLVANIA,    1800-1820.  489 

neglected  field.  It  was  by  no  means  an  Lnvi ring  sphere 
of  effort  for  one  who  consulted  bis  ease  or  thirsted  for 
human dis tin d  ion.  Anion--  'us  rapidfly  increasing  popu- 
lation ignorance  and  vice  abounded.  The  sanctuary 
and  the  institutions  of  religion  wore  but  lightly  re- 
garded. The  feeble  organization  numbered  only  fifty- 
three  members,  and  most  Of  these  were  by  no  means 
efficient;  while  the  congregation  was  composed  almost 
exclusively  of  the  poorer  classes. 

It  was  not  long  until  tbere  was  a  marked  change. 
The  half-tilled  house  had  become  crowded  with  eager 
Listeners.  It  was  necessary  to  enlarge  it.  The  pastor's 
visits  to  the  lanes  and  alleys  revealed  to  him  scenes  of 
vice  and  degradation,  and  his  heart  was  moved  by  wit- 
nessing the  hundreds  of  poor  and  neglected  children 
that  swarmed  the  streets  and  seemed  hopelessly  aban- 
doned to  courses  of  indolence  and  crime.  He  had 
heard  of  a  lady  of  New  Brunswick  who  had  gathered 
a  number  of  poor  children  at  her  house  on  the  Sabbath 
for  instruction;  and  this  sufficed  to  prompt  his  own  en- 
terprising philanthropy  to  a  similar  experiment  on  a 
larger  scale.  "  The  Sabbath-School  Association  of  the 
Northern  Liberties"  was  the  result.  One  hundred 
children  were  immediately  gathered  for  instruction, 
and  many  more  were  soon  added  to  the  number.  The 
success  of  the  enterprise  led  to  the  formation  of  similar 
institutions,  until  at  length  the  churches  of  the  land, 
generally,  availed  themselves  of  their  advantages. 

Nor  was  this  all.    Prayer-meetings  were  established,1 

1  Mr.  Patterson's  first  prayer-meeting  was  held  in  a  little  frame 
house,  with  the  aid  of  two  apprentice  boys,  -Lids  of  sixteen  <>x 
seventeen  years  of  age.  His  people  Boon  "laid  hold  of  the  thing," 
and  "it  went  well."  Tn  the  course  of  a  few  years  be  had  in  his 
church  forty-four  meei.nga  of  this  kind  every  week,  and  four 
thousand  persons  were  broughl  under  religious  instruction,  besides 
those    in  the  church.     The  meetings  were  held  iu  the    lanes    and 


490  HISTORY    OF    PRESBYTERIANISM. 

enlisting  the  co-operation  of  the  members  of  his  church, 
whose  efficiency  and  usefulness  he  endeavored  to  pro- 
mote. The  "  lay  preaching" — as  it  was  denominated 
by  some — which  was  thus  introduced  was  viewed  by 
some  of  his  co-presbyters  as  an  unwarranted  innova- 
tion, and  for  some  time  was  the  subject  of  warm  discus- 
sion in  the  Presbytery.  The  general  current  of  sen- 
timent was  against  it,  and  Mr.  Patterson  was  left  to 
stand  alone,  except  as  he  was  countenanced  by  Drs. 
Wilson  and  Skinner,  and  perhaps  one  or  two  others. 
Some  of  his  measures  may  have  been  imprudent;  but 
none  could  question  the  philanthropy  or  piety  by 
which  they  were  dictated. 

His  position  was  peculiar,  and  called,  possibly,  for 
peculiar  instrumentalities.  He  was  among  a  people 
who  had  enjoyed  nothing  worthy  the  name  of  religious 
education,  and  who  in  many  cases  combined  the  hard- 
ened features  of  civilized  depravity  with  the  ignorance, 
waywardness,  and  undisciplined  moral  feeling  of  hea- 
thenism. To  attract  their  attention,  to  hold  them  to- 
gether, to  present  the  truth  to  their  minds  in  the  most 
impressive  manner,  and  to  train  them,  when  brought 
to  repentance,  to  habits  of  intelligent  Christian  act- 
ivity, required  a  rare  combination  of  tact,  talent,  and 
devotion. 

Yet  this  was  the  task  which  Mr.  Patterson  accom- 
plished. The  forcible  exposition  and  stirring  appeals  of 
the  pulpit  were  seconded  by  the  fidelity  and  vigilance 
of  pastoral  duty.  Revival  followed  revival,  through 
a  ministry  of  nearly  a  quarter  of  a  century,  with  rare 
frequency  and  power.  Scores  upon  scores  were  re- 
alleys  of  the  city,  some  of  them  two,  three,  or  four  miles  off.  At 
every  communion,  from  fifteen  to  forty  were  added  to  the  church. 
The  circulation  of  printed  matter  by  the  prayer-meeting  agents — 
the  matter  being  furnished  by  Mr.  Patterson — led  to  the  establish- 
ment of  the  "Philadelphian." — Patterson's  Pariphlet,  1830,  pp.  8,  9. 


PENNSYLVANIA,    1800-1820.  4'Jl 

eeivedj  successively,  a1  single  Beasons  of  communion. 
His  Influence  was  felt  not  only  in  his  immediate  neigh- 
borhood l>ut  throughout  the  city,  and  even  to  distant 
places.  His  labors  in  Alexandria,  in  Washington  City, 
and  in  other  regions,  were  remarkably  blessed. 

And  yet  Mr.  Patterson  was  not  &  great  man,  intellect- 
ually. He  had,  indeed,  far  more  than  average  ability. 
He  had  a  mind  well  stored  and  disciplined.  But  his 
devotion  to  his  work  supplied  the  place  of  genius,  or, 
rather,  it  was  something  higher  and  better  than  genius. 
It  put  to  their  most  effective  use  the  advantages  which 
nature  had  supplied.  It  gave,  in  his  utterance  of 
searching  truth,  a  more  commanding  aspect  to  his 
tall,  slender,  but  erect,  dignified,  and  well-proportioned 
frame.  It  gave  a  more  penetrating  glance  to  his  black 
and  piercing  eye.  It  kindled  his  intellect  to  a  more 
untiring  activity  and  a  loftier  grasp,  and  it  roused  to 
ardor  all  the  emotions  and  sympathies  of  his  soul.  He 
was  ever  engaged  in  his  Master's  service.  He  would 
become  "  all  things  to  all  men,  that  he  might  gain  some." 
Affable  and  kind,  he  won  the  love  of  the  children  j  faith- 
ful and  affectionate,  he  commanded  the  respect  and  con- 
fidence of  all. 

If  not  studiously  original,  he  was  never  common- 
place. He  spoke  for  effect  upon  the  heart  and  con- 
science; and  an  imagination  more  fertile  than  chaste 
supplied  him  with  ready  and  striking,  rather  than  ele- 
gant, illustrations.  His  nervous  Saxon  words  fell  like 
the  blows  of  the  stalwart  arm  upon  the  anvil,  and  under 
their  crushing  weight  the  convicted  soul  was  little  dis- 
posed to  criticize  one  who  could  handle  the  sledge-ham- 
mer better  than  the  scalpel.  Measured  by  the  ordinary 
standards  of  pulpit  eloquence,  Mr.  Patterson  came 
short;  and  tried  by  the  rules  of  decorum  and  ministe- 
rial propriety,  he  could  scarcely  have  secured  a  verdict 
in  his  favor.     But  his  ministry,  notwithstanding,  was 


492  HISTORY    OF    PRESBYTERIANISM. 

remarkably  successful,  and  to  the  last  his  zeal,  devo- 
tion, and  self-denial  were  unabated.  If  Horace  Wal- 
pole  would  have  sneered  at  him,  or  Chesterfield  have 
called  him  a  ranter,  Baxter  would  have  admired  him.1 

The  pastorate  of  James  Boyd  at  Newtown  and  Ben- 
salem,  which  commenced  before  1789,  continued  for 
more  than  twenty  years;  and  his  successor  at  Newtown 
was  Alexander  Boyd.  In  1814,  John  F.  Grier, — a  son  of 
James  Grier,  of  Deep  Run, — a  graduate  of  Dickinson 
College  in  1803,  and  a  teacher  for  several  years  at  Pequa 
and  at  Brandy  wine  Academy,  commenced  his  labors  as 
pastor  at  Beading,  where  he  continued  until  his  death 
in  1829.  Solesbury  had  Thomas  Dunn  (in  1814  at 
Germantown)  as  pastor  previous  to  1819.  At  Pitts- 
grove,2  N.J.,  G.  W.  Janvier,  whose  pastorate  continued 
for  many  years,  commenced  his  labors  previous  to  1814. 
Cape  May,  which  had  been  united  with  it  as  a  pastoral 
charge  under  John  Jones  (previous  to  1803),  had  pre- 
vious to  1819  Isaac  A.  Ogden  as  its  pastor, — although 
for  a  short  time  preceding  it  seems  to  have  been 
united  with  Penn's  Xeck,  under  the  pastoral  care  of 
David  Edwards.  In  1811,  shortly  after  the  death  of 
Wm.  M.  Tennent,  pastor  of  Abington,  ^orristown,  and 

1  In  1837,  the  Presbyterian  churches  of  Philadelphia  were  : — the 
First,  Albert  Barnes,  pastor;  Second,  Dr.  C.  C.  Cuyler;  Third, 
Thomas  Brainerd ;  Fourth,  Wm.  L.  McCalla;  Fifth,  Thomas  Water- 
man; Sixth,  S.  G.  Winchester;  Seventh,  S.  D.  Blythe;  Eighth, 
Alexander  Macklin;  Ninth,  Wm.  J.  Gibson;  Tenth,  H.  A.  Board- 
man;  Eleventh,  John  L.  Grant;  Twelfth,  vacant;  Central,  John 
McDowell ;  First  Kensington,  George  Chandler ;  Second  Kensington, 
vacant;  First  Southwark,  Albert  Judson ;  Second  Southwark,  va- 
cant; First  Northern  Liberties,  James  Patterson;  Central  Northern 
Liberties,  vacant;  Germantown,  Wm.  Neill,  stated  supply;  First 
African  Church,  Charles  S.  Gardner;  Second  and  Third  African 
Churches,  vacant. 

2  Several  of  the  churches  of  New  Jersey  were  under  the  care  of 
Philadelphia  Presbytery. 


PENNSYLVANIA,   1800-1820.  493 

Providence,  he  was  succeeded  by  William  Dunlap  at 
Abington.  Norristown  and  Providence  wereal  a  later 
period  under  the  charge  of  Joseph  Barr,  whose  min- 
istry, commencing  previous  to  1814,  extended  to  a  date 
subsequent  to  1819.  Prankford,  which  in  1814  bad 
John  M.  Doak,  had  before  1819  Thomas  J.  Biggs  as 
pastor;  and  his  ministry  continued  to  a  date  later  than 
1825.  The  death  of  Nathaniel  Irwin.  March,  1812,  left 
Neshaminy  vacant \  but  in  the  following  year  Robert 
B  Belville  commenced,  as  his  successor,  his  extended 
pastorate. 

The  vacant  churches  of  the  Presbytery  in  1819  were 
— Abington,1  the  young  and  feeble  churches  of  Moya- 
merising,  Springfield,  Ash  ton,  and  Middletown,  Deer- 
field,  Grermantown,  Cohocksing,  Bensalem,  Tinicum, 
Alloway's  Creek.  Durham,  and  Millville. 

Central  Pennsylvania,  including  the  Susquehanna 
Valley,  was  in  1800  included  within  the  bounds  of  Car- 
lisle and  Huntingdon  Presbyteries.  The  aggregate 
membership  of  the  two  Presbyteries  was  thirty.  In 
1811  the  Presbytery  of  Northumberland  was  erected; 
and  in  1819  the  three  jointly  numbered  thirty-eight 
ministers  and  had  under  their  care  eighty  congre- 
gations. 

The  growth  of  the  Church  in  this  region,  during  this 
period,  was  slow.  The  ministers  had  increased  in 
numbers  more  rapidly  than  the  churches.  Emigration 
overleaped  this  field  for  the  more  inviting  regions  north 
and  west  of  the  Ohio.  The  powerful  revivals  which 
prevailed  among  the  churches  of  the  Pittsburg  Synod 
soon  after  its  formation  in  1802  do  not  seem  to  have 


1  John  Steel  was  pastor  in  1825  of  Abington,  John  Smith  of  Ash- 
ton,  James  Hooker  of  Germantown,  while  John  W.  Scott  was  stated 
Bupply  of  Bensalem,  and  Francis  G.  Ballantine  had  besn  settled  at 
Dcerfield. 

Vol.   I.— 42 


49-1  HISTORY    OF   PRESBYTERIANISM. 

extended  to  this  field.  The  churches  were  depleted 
by  removals,  and  largely  robbed  of  their  natural  in- 
crease. 

In  1819,  there  were  ten  vacant  churches  in  the  Pres- 
bytery of  Carlisle.  These  were  Harrisburg, — of  which 
W.  R.  Dewitt  was  the  same  year  installed  pastor, — 
Greencastle,  Waynesburg,  Great  Cove,  Bedford,  Cum- 
berland, JVlonaghan,  Petersburg,  Lower  West  Cono- 
cocheague,  and  Williamsport.  Of  these,  the  four  last 
were  unable  to  sustain  a  pastor;  and  of  the  whole  num- 
ber four  only  had  enjoyed  a  settled  ministry  during  the 
period  of  twenty  years.  At  Paxton  and  Derry,  ~N.  R. 
Snowden  (1793-96)  was  succeeded  by  Joshua  Williams 
(1791-1801)  and  James  Sharon.1  At  Harrisburg,  which 
had  formed  part  of  the  charge  of  Mr.  Snowden,  James 
Buchanan — who  had  charge  also  of  Middle  Paxton 
— was  installed  in  1809.  He  was  dismissed  in  1815, 
and  in  1819  was  succeeded  by  Wm.  E.  Dewitt,  the 
present  pastor.  Bedford  had  Alexander  Boyd  for  its 
pastor  from  1808  till  1815,  and  Jeremiah  Chamberlain 
from  1819  till  1822.  Their  successors  were  Daniel 
McKinley  (1827-31),  Baynard  R.  Hall  (1832-38),  El- 
bridge  Bradbury  (1839-41),  and  Wm.  M.  Hall.  Mona- 
ghan  and  Pennsborough  were  left  vacant  by  the  death 
of  Samuel  Waugh  in  1807,  but  had  subsequently  John 
Hayes  (1809-15),  after  whose  dismission  the  church 
was  dependent  on  supplies  for  many  years. 

Of  the  pastors  of  the  Presbytery  in  1800,  six  only 
remained  in  1820.  These  were  John  Linn  at  Sherman's 
Valley,  Jaines  Snodgrass  at  Hanover,  Robert  Cathcart 
at  York  and  Hopewell,  William  Paxton  at  Lower 
Marsh  Creek,  David  Denney  at  Upper  and  Lower  Path 
Valley  (1793-1800)  and   at  Chambersburg    (1800-38), 

1  Died  April  18,  1843. — Neviri's  Churches  of  the  Valley.  He  was 
settled  previous  to  1809.     See  Assembly's  Minutes. 


PENNSYLVANIA,    1800-1820.  495 

and  Joshua  Williams  at  Deny  and  Paxton  (1709-1801) 
and  at  Big  Spring  (1802-29). 

The  ministry  of  Mr.  Linn  closed  in  1820.  Of  manly 
form,  vigorous  constitution,  and  great  powers  of  endu- 
rance, his  disposition  was  social  and  cheerful,  and  his 
presence  in  every  circle  was  cordially  welcome.  His 
sermons,  delivered  memoriter,  with  a  voice  of  remark- 
able clearness,  were  uttered  with  great  solemnity  and 
impressiveness ;  while  his  discharge  of  his  pastoral 
duties  was  unremitted  and  exemplary.  The  pastorate 
of  Mr.  Snodgrass  at  Hanover  was  protracted  till  1845, 
and  that  of  Dr.  Ca^hcart  at  Hopewell  till  1835,  and  at 
York  till  1837.  Mr.  Denney  was  pastor  at  Chambers- 
burg  till  1838. 

Upon  the  removal  of  Dr.  McKnight  to  Xew  York,  he 
was  succeeded  at  Lower  Marsh  Creek  and  Tom's  Creek 
by  a  young  man  who,  without  a  collegiate  education, 
had,  by  great  diligence  and  application,  fitted  himself 
for  the  work  of  the  ministry.  This  man  was  William 
Paxton,  a  native  of  Lancaster  county,  the  son  of  a 
farmer;  and  he  had  devoted  himself,  till  twenty-four 
years  of  age,  to  agricultural  pursuits.  But  his  thirst 
for  knowledge  led  him  to  seek  the  advantages  of  edu- 
cation, and  his  warm  piety  induced  him  to  prepare  him- 
self for  the  work  of  the  ministry.  In  1792,  he  was  called 
to  succeed  Dr.  McKnight;  and  for  forty-nine  years 
Lower  Marsh  Creek  enjoyed  the  labors  of  a  pastor 
whose  diligence,  promptitude,  and  fidelity  could  not 
well  be  surpassed.  Of  large  stature,  full  six  feet  in 
height, — of  a  manner  solemn,  dignified,  commanding, 
and  graceful. — dispensing  in  the  pulpit  with  the  use  of 
yet  never  failing  to  make  full  and  careful  pre- 
paration,— he  was  as  a  preacher  highly  interesting  and 
acceptable,  while  as  a  pastor  he  Avas  faithful  and  affec- 
tionate. Spared  till  1845, he  departed  in  the  eighty-sixth 
year  of  his  age,  a  patriarch  indeed,  his  memory  crowned 


496  HISTORY    OE    MtESBYTEMANISM. 

by  his  friends  and  admirers  with  honors  which  his  own 
modesty  forbade  him  to  seek. 

Joshua  Williams  was  pastor  of  Big  Spring  from  1801 
till  1829.  His  preceding  ministry  at  Derry  and  Pax- 
ton  had  lasted  less  than  two  years.  lie  had  pursued 
his  studies,  preparatory  to  college  at  Gettysburg,  under 
Eev.  Alexander  Dobbin,  and  even  then  was  distin- 
guished for  uncommon  skill  in  debate  and  great  flu- 
ency in  extemporaneous  speaking.  In  1795,  he  was 
graduated  at  Dickinson  College,  and  pursued  his  theo- 
logical studies  under  Dr.  Robert  Cooper. 

Dr.  Williams  was  accounted  "  an  able  and  profound 
theologian."1  His  intellect  was  of  a  high  order,  and 
distinguished  for  acuteness  and  power  of  discrimination. 
As  a  preacher  he  was  highly  instructive  and  evan- 
gelical,— although  his  style  was  more  philosophical  than 
colloquial.  In  manner  he  was  grave  and  dignified, 
earnest  but  not  vehement.  Though  fond  of  debate, 
his  nervous  temperament  unfitted  him  for  the  conflicts 
of  ecclesiastical  bodies ;  yet  in  private  company  or  the 
social  circle  his  conversational  gifts  were  of  a  rare 
order.  His  piety  was  not  fitful  or  spasmodic,  but 
accorded  with  the  character  of  his  mind, — solid, 
deliberate,  and  perhaps  more  than  usually  inclined  to 
severity. 

A  classmate  of  his  at  Gettysburg  and  at  Dickinson 
College,  although  in  age  considerably  his  junior,  was 
David  McConaughy,  for  nearly  thirty-two  years  pastor 
of  the  churches  of  Upper  Marsh  Creek  and  Great  Cone- 
wago.  His  ministry  here  commenced  in  October,  1800, 
and  continued  till  1832,  wThen  he  accepted  a  call  to 
the  Presidency  of  Washington  College,  which  office 
he  sustained  until  1849.  His  death  occurred  some 
three  years  later,  when  he  had  reached  the  seventy- 

1  Sprague,  iv.  199. 


PENNSYLVANIA,  1800-1820.  497 

seventh  year  of  his  age  and  the  fifty-fifth  of  his 
ministry. 

The  congregation  of  Upper  Marsh  Creek  removed 
in  1813  to    Gettysburg,  the  county  scat.1     Their  new 

house  of  worship  was  not  completed  and  ready  for 
occupancy  till  1816.  But  the  congregation  after  its 
removal  retained  not  only  its  name,  but  its  con- 
nection with  Great  Conewago.  The  people  of  both 
were  devotedly  attached  to  their  pastor.  Kind,  sym- 
pathizing, faithful,  and  affectionate,  he  was  an  object  of 
universal  love,  esteem,  and  confidence.  Above  all  his 
titles — and  he  was  "  doctorated  to  the  highest  point" — 
his  distinction  was  that  of  "a  good  man."2  At  college 
he  bore  off  the  highest  honors  of  his  class;  and  in  the 
positions  he  subsequently  occupied  he  proved  himself 
equal  to  the  emergency.  His  discourses,  both  in  matter 
and  style,  bore  marks  of  careful  preparation.  Rich  in 
evangelical  truth,  they  were  characterized  by  a  classic 
elegance  of  style,  and  delivered  in  an  earnest  and  per- 
suasive, if  not  altogether  attractive,  manner. 

Of  superior  natural  endowments,  careful  culture,  ex- 
tensive and  accurate  scholarship,  his  unswerving  in- 
tegrity, dignity  of  deportment,  kindness  of  heart,  and 
anxiety  for  the  welfare  and  improvement  of  his  pupils, 
admirably  fitted  him  for  the  post  of  President  of  Wash- 
ington College,  which  he  filled,  with  honor  to  himself 
and  profit  to  others,  for  the  space  of  seventeen  years. 

1  The  Associate  Reformed  Church  in  this  neighborhood  was 
under  the  charge  of  Dr.  McLean.  Dr.  Charles  G.  McLean  was 
\>orn  in  Armagh  county,  Ireland,  March  11,  1787.  Emigrating  to 
this  country,  he  studied  theology  under  Dr.  John  M.  Mason,  having 
first  been  graduated  at  Pennsylvania  University.  In  1812,  he  was 
ordained  pastor  of  the  Presbyterian  church  near  Gettysburg,  Pa., 
where  he  preached  for  twenty-nine  years.  He  died  at  Indianapolis 
in  1860. 

:  Sprague,  iv.  202. 

42* 


498  HISTORY    OF    PRESBYTEUIANISM. 

The  monument  of  his  fidelity  and  ability  is  the  record 
of  the  college  itself. 

Eobert  Kennedy,  a  graduate  of  Dickinson  College 
in  1797,  commenced  his  pastorate  at  Welsh  Kim  (or 
East  and  West  Conococheague)  in  1802,1  resigning  his 
office  in  1816,  but  resuming  it,  after  a  nine-years  resi- 
dence in  Maryland,  in  1825,  and  continuing  to  dis- 
charge the  duties  until  his  death  in  1843. 

At  Silver  Spring,  which,  together  with  Monaghan, 
was  left  vacant  by  the  death  of  Mr.  Waugh  in  1807, 
Henry  Eowan  Wilson  was  settled  in  1813.  He  too, 
like  Williams  and  McConaughy,  was  a  pupil  of  Mr. 
Dobbin  and  a  graduate  of  Dickinson  College.  In  1802, 
soon  after  his  licensure,  he  removed  to  Bellefonte,  Cen- 
tre county,  and  commenced  preaching.  The  Presby- 
terians had  as  yet  no  organized  church  and  no  house 
of  worship.  But,  securing  the  use  of  the  court-house, 
and  devoting  himself  .to  his  work,  he  soon  gathered  a 
congregation,  and  a  church  was  organized.  At  Lick 
Bun,  twelve  miles  distant,  another  was  formed  through 
his  exertions.  Of  these  congregations  he  was  installed 
pastor;  and,  as  there  was  no  church-edifice  in  the  re- 
gion, and  no  private  house  sufficiently  capacious,  the 
exercises  were  held  in  the  woods. 

For  four  years  he  retained  the  pastorate,  but  in  1806 
was  called  to  the  Professorship  of  Languages  in  Dick- 
inson College.  Here  he  remained  for  seven  years, 
assisting  Dr.  Davidson  in  the  pulpit  on  the  Sabbath. 
After  this,  he  commenced  his  labors  at  Silver  Spring. 
The  church,  which  since  Mr.  Waugh's  death  had  been 
in  a  languishing  state,  began  ere  long  to  revive,  and 
in  the  seven  years  of  Mr.  Wilson's  ministry  the  mem- 
bership was  more  than  doubled.  His  successor,  after 
his  dismission  in  1823,  was  James  Williamson. 

1  Successor  of  Thomas  McPlierrin. — Assembly's  Minutes,  i.  101. 


499 

Dr.  Wilson  was  a  man  of  remarkable  activity  and 
untiring  usefulness.  i\\>  personal  appearance  was 
prepossessing.  All  his  movements  indicated  manly 
strength  and  vigor;  while  his  manners  were  dignified 
and  gentlemanly.  Honesl  and  open-hearted,  he  could 
not  always  disguise  hi.s  scorn  of  any  thing  bordering 
on  duplicity,  even  when  prudence  would  have  dictated 
reserve.  As  a  preacher,  he  was  aide,  energetic,  and 
popular.  Rich  blessings  attended  his  labors;  and  he 
was  the  instrument  of  bringing  many  souls  to  Christ. 

Upon  leaving  Silver  Spring,  he  removed  to  Shippcns- 
burg,  where  his  devotion  to  his  work  would  have  done 
honor  to  the  zeal  and  enterprise  of  a  frontier  mission- 
ary.1 Jle  was  accustomed  regularly  to  open  the  Sab- 
bath-school in  the  morning  with  reading,  singing, 
prayer,  and  a  short  address,  preach  at  ten  o'clock, 
and  again  at  twelve,  then  mount  his  horse  and  ride 
four  or  live  miles  into  the  country,  to  preach  in  some 
school-house  or  dwelling-house,  then  return  and  preach 
at  night  in  his  church. — making  four  sermons,  in  addi- 
tion to  the  Sabbath-school  service, — and  riding  on  horse- 
back— often  under  hot  suns  or  in  severe  storms — from 
eight  to  ten  miles.  He  had  four  preaching-places  in 
the  four  corners  of  his  congregation,  at  one  of  which 
he  preached  every  Friday.  Neither  bad  roads,  unfavor- 
able weather,  nor  slight  indisposition,  prevented  him 
from  fulfilling  his  appointments.  His  ministry  at  Ship- 
pensburg  closed  in  1838,  and  from  1842  to  184*  he  was 
BeLlville's  successor  at  Neshaminy.  His  death  occurred 
in  1849. 

At  Upper  and  Lower  Path  Valley,  David  Den ney 
succeeded  Samuel  Dougall  in  1793 ;  but,  resigning  his 
charge  in  1800,  he  was  in  1802  succeeded  by  Amos  A. 
McGinley,  who  retained  the  pastorate  till  1851.    Within 


Sprague,  iv.  301. 


500  HISTORY   OP   PRESBYTERIANISM. 

about  thirty  years  after  Mr.  McGinley's  settlement,  his 
church  had  attained  a  membership  of  between  four  and 
five  hundred. 

At  Middle  Spring,  John  Moody  succeeded  Dr.  Eobert 
Cooper,  after  an  interval  of  several  years,  during  which 
the  church  was  reported  vacant.  His  pastorate  com- 
menced in  1803;  and  in  1833  this  church,  which  he  still 
continued  to  serve,  had  a  membership  of  nearly  three 
hundred.     His  pastorate  closed  in  1853-4. 

At  Upper  West  Conococheague,  the  successor  of  the 
venerable  Dr.  John  King,  whose  resignation  took  place 
shortly  before  his  death  in  1811,  was  David  Elliott, 
subsequently  professor  in  the  Alleghany  Theological 
Seminary.  At  Rocky  Spring,  Francis  Herron  com- 
menced his  labors,  as  successor  of  John  Craighead,  in 
1800;  but  in  1810  he  resigned  his  charge  of  the  church, 
and  his  place  was  supplied  by  Dr.  McKnight,  who  had 
retired  from  New  York  to  this  vicinity,  and  who,  except 
for  the  short  interval  during  which  he  filled  the  post 
of  President  of  Dickinson  College,  continued  in  charge 
till  his  death  in  1823. 

Piney's  Creek  and  Tom's  Creek,  vacant  in  1800,  had 
for  their  pastor,  previous  to  1803,  Patrick  Davidson, 
who  remained  till  subsequent  to  1809,  and,  after  a  va- 
cancy of  some  years,  Robert  S.  Grier,  who  was  still 
pastor  of  the  church  in  1862. 

The  church  of  Carlisle  had  been  left  vacant,  by  the 
death  of  Dr.  Davidson  at  the  close  of  1812;  but  in 
1816,  George  Duffield1  was  called  to  the  pastorate,  and 
remained  in  charge  of  the  church  until  his  removal  to 
Philadelphia  in  1835. 

In  1800,  the  Presbytery  of  Huntingdon  numbered 
twelve  ministers,  of  whom  four — John  Hoge,  Asa  Dun- 
ham, Hugh  McGill,  and  James  Johnston — were  without 

1  Now  tli  i  venerable  Dr.  Duffield,  of  Detroit. 


PENNSYLVANIA,   1800-1:20.  501 

charge.  Of  theothers,  David  Bard  was  at  Franks  town, 
Matthew  Stephens  at  Shaver's  ( !re<  k,  John  Johnston  at 
Huntingdon  and  Han's  Log,  Eugh  Morrison  at  Buf- 
falo and  Sunbury,  John  Bryson  at  Qhillisquaque  and 
Warrior  Run,  David  Wiley  at  Spring  Creek,  Isaac 
Grrier  at  Pine  Creek,  Lycoming,  and  Grreal  island,  and 
Samuel  Bryson  at  Spruce  Creek  and  Sinking  Valley. 
More  than  twenty  vacant  churches  were  under  the  care 
of  the  Presbytery. 

Of  the  pastors  in  1800,  John  Johnston  and  John 
Bryson  were  the  only  ones  who  continued  to  retain  the 
pastoral  charge  till  1820,  the  latter  remaining  at  his 
post  till  subsequent  to  1825.  Previous  to  1808,  James 
Johnston  was  settled  at  Dry  Valley  and  East  Kisha- 
coquillas,  and  was  still  pastor  in  1820.  This  was  the 
case  also  with  William  Stuart  at  Sinking  Creek  and 
Spring  Creek,  and  with  John  Coulter  at  Lower  and 
Middle  Tuscarora,  both  of  them  continuing  in  the  pas- 
torate of  these  churches  till  about  1834.  At  Mahoning 
and  Deny  John  B.  Patterson  commenced  his  labors 
previous  to  1803,  and  his  pastorate  continued,  in  con- 
nection with  Derry,  for  nearly  forty  years.  At  Buf- 
falo and  Milton,  the  pastorate  of  Thomas  Hood,  which 
began  previous  to  1809,  continued  till  1834-35.  For  a 
portion  of  his  time  Washington  formed  a  part  of  his 
charge.  At  Mifflintown  and  Lost  Creek,  John  Hut- 
chinson commenced  his  labors,  as  the  successor  of  Mat- 
thew Brown,  previous  to  1809;  and  here  he  labored  as 
pastor  till  183-1-35.  At  Bellefonte  and  Lick  Run,  where 
congregations  had  been  gathered  in  1802  byDr.  Henry 
R.  Wilson,  subsequently  at  Shippensburg,  .lames  Linn 
was  settled  as  his  successor  (1813),  and  continued  in 
the  pastoral  charge  for  more  than  twenty  year-,  the 
united  churches  numbering  nearly  lour  hundred  mem- 
bers. After  the  resignation  of  Isaac  Grrier,  who  had 
charge  of  Northumberland,  Sunbury,  and  Shamokin,  in 


502  HISTORY    OF    PRESBYTERIANISM. 

1809-14,  he  was  succeeded  by  Samuel  Henderson  at 
Shamokin,  with  which  Bloomsburg  and  Brier  Creek 
were  made  a  joint  charge,  and  at  Northumberland  and 
Sunbury  by  Eobert  F.  N.  Smith.  Isaac  Grier  had  pre- 
viously been  settled,  as  successor  of  James  Martin,  at 
Piney  Creek  and  Great  Island,  of  which,  after  a  vacancy 
of  some  years,  JohnH.  Grier  became  pastor,  remaining 
in  charge  some  twenty  years.1  Samuel  Henderson  re- 
mained from  about  1817  until  near  1829  at  Bloomsburg, 
Brier  Creek,  and  Shamokin,  and  in  the  last-mentioned 
year  was  stated  supply  at  Shamokin,  New  Columbia, 
and  Holland  Eun.  Previous  to  1819,  James  Galbraith 
was  settled  at  Frankstown  and  Williamsburg,  his  pas- 
torate continuing  till  1834-35;  at  nearly  the  same  period, 
Nathaniel  E.  Snowden  was  settled  at  Millerstown  and 
Liverpool,  his  pastorate  closing  previous  to  1825.  This 
was  likewise  the  case  with  William  Kennedy  at  Lewis- 
town  and  West  Kishacoquillas,  William  A.  Boyd  at 
Spence  Creek  and  Sinking  Valley,  and  James  Thomp- 
son at  Shaver's  Creek  and  Alexandria. 

In  1811,  the  Presbytery  of  Northumberland  was 
erected,  the  pastors  of  it,  transferred  from  the  Presby- 
tery of  Huntingdon,  being  Asa  Dunham,  John  Bryson, 
Isaac  Grier,  John  B.  Patterson,  and  Thomas  Hood.  It 
embraced  the  churches  of  Warrior  Eun,  Chillisquaque, 
Northumberland,  Sunbury,  Shamokin,  Mahoning, 
Deny,  Buffalo,  Washington,  Milton,  Lycoming,  Pine 
Creek,  Brier  Creek,  Greenwood,  and  Catawissa.  No 
other  churches  seem  to  have  been  added  to  the  list 
previous  to  1820. 

The  Synod  of  Pittsburg  was  erected  in  1802.  It 
consisted  of  the  Presbyteries  of  Eedstone,  Ohio,  and 
Erie, — all  previously  connected  with  the  Synod  of  Yir- 

1  Isaac  Grier — but  probably  another  person  than  the  one  mentioned 
above — was  subsequently  (1816)  pastor  at  Washington. 


PENNSYLVANIA,    1800-1820.  503 

ginia  The  Presbytery  of  Erie  was  formed  from  the 
two  others  in  1801,  and  a  portion  of  its  churches  were 
within  the  bounds  of  the  State  of  Ohio, — several  on 
or  mar  the  Western  Eeserve.  At  the  time  when  the 
three  Presbyteries  were  constituted  a  Synod,  Bedstone 
Presbytery  had  eleven  ministers  and  thirty-five  congre- 
gations, Ohio  Presbytery  hud  sixteen  ministers  and 
thirty-four  congregations,  while  Erie  Presbytery  had 
five  ministers  and  forty  congregations.  The  aggregate 
was  thirty-two  ministers  and  one  hundred  and  nine  con- 
gregations, of  which  not  more  than  ten  or  twelve  were 
outside  the  limits  of  Pennsylvania. 

Of  Eedstone  Presbytery,  the  members  were  James 
Power  (1779-1817)  at  Mount  Pleasant,  Joseph  W.  Hen- 
derson (1799-1824)  at  Bethlehem  and  Ebenezer,  Jacob 
Jennings  (1792-1811)  at  Dunlap's  Creek  and  Little  Eed- 
stone, John  McPherrin  (1790-1803)  at  Salem,  Samuel 
Porter  (1790-18251)  at  Congruity,  George  Hill  (1792- 
18221)  at  Fairfield  and  Donegal,'2  William  Swan  (1793- 
1818)  at  Long  Run  and  Sewickley,  David  Smith  (1798- 
18031)  at  Rehoboth  and  Round  Hill,  James  Adams 
(1795  F-1814)  at  George's  Creek  and  Union,  James  Dun- 
lap  (1782-1803)  at  Laurel  Hill,  and  Francis  Laird 
(1799-1831)  at  Poke  Eun  and  Plumb  Creek. 

The  accessions  to  the  Presbytery  in  the  following 
3'ears  were  William  Speer  at  Unity  and  Greensburg 
(1803-291),  Eobert  Steel  at  Pittsburg  (1803-101),  Thomas 
Moore  at  Salem  (1803-09),  William  Wylie  at  Eehoboth 
and  Bound  Hill  (1805-17),  James  Guthrie  at  Laurel  Hill 
and  Tyrone  (1805-50),  James  Graham  at  Pitts  Town- 
ship (afterward  reported  as  Beulah)  (1804-32),  N.  R. 
Snowden  at  Pittsburg,  Second  Congregation  (Oct- 
Dec.  1805,)  James  Galbraith  at  Harmony  (1805-12)  and 

1  Died  in  the  latter  year. 

2  In  lator  years,  Fairfield  and  Ligonier. 


504  HISTORY   OF    PRESBYTERIANISM. 

Gilgal  (1805-17),1  Eobert  McGarrongh  at  New  Echo- 
both  and  Licking  (1807-22), 3  John  Boggs  at  Pittsburg, 
Second  Congregation  (Dec.  1807-April,  1808),  Thomas 
Hunt  at  Pittsburg,  Second  Church  (1809-18),  Francis 
Herron  at  Pittsburg,  First  Church  (1810-50),  Eobert 
Lee  at  Salem  (1813-19),  William  Johnston  a#t  Dunlap's 
Creek  (1813-39)  and  Brownsville  (1813-41),  Eobert 
Johnston  at  Eehoboth  (1817-32)  and  Eound  Hill  (1817 
-31),  John  Eeed  at  Indiana  and  Gilgal  (1818-29), 
John  Boss  at  Somerset  (1817-19),  Ashbel  G.  Fairchild 
at  Morgantown  and  George's  Creek,  Asa  Brooks  at 
French  Creek  and  Buchanan  (1819-27),  Elisha  P. 
Swift  at  Pittsburg,  Second  Church  (1819-33),  William 
Swan  at  Long  Bun  (1819-22),  William  Wylie  at  Union- 
town  (1819-24),  Aretus  Loomis  at  Tygart's  Valley 
(1820-23),  David  Barclay  at  Jefferson,  Lower  Plumb 
Creek,  Glade  Eun,  s.  s.  (1820-28),  and  A.  O.  Patterson 
at  Mt.  Pleasant  and  Sewickley  (1821-34). 

In  1802,  Bedstone  Presbytery  had  under  its  care 
thirty-eight  congregations  supplied  with  pastors,  and 
seventeen  vacant;  in  1808,  with  sixteen  pastors,  eleven 
of  its  thirty-eight  congregations  were  vacant;  in  1815, 
with  eighteen  pastors  and  the  same  number  of  congre- 
gations as  in  1808,  ten  were  vacant.  In  1820,  it  num- 
bered  nineteen    ministers    and    thirty-eight  congrega- 

1  According  to  Wilson's  "  Historical  Almanac,"  James  Galbraith 
was  born  in  Adams  county,  Pa.,  in  1780.  His  academical 
course  was  pursued  at  Jefferson  College,  and  bis  theological  with 
Dr.  King.  In  1807,  be  was  ordained  by  Redstone  Presbytery  over 
Mahoning  and  Indiana  Cburcbes.  In  1828.  he  preached  for  Franks- 
town  and  Williamsburg  Churches,  in  Huntingdon  Presbytery.  In 
1841,  he  supplied  Middle  Sandy  Church,  New  Lisbon  Presbytery, 
in  1843,  Weatbersfield  and  Rehoboth  ;  but  at  length  he  declined  any 
stated  charge,  preacbing  occasionally  as  his  strength  permitted. 
He  was  a  man  of  sterling  integrity,  faithful  in  the  discharge  of  his 
iuties.     He  sank  under  the  infirmities  of  age,  March  28v1858. 

2  Transferred  to  another  Presbytery. 


PENNSYLVANIA,    1S00-1820.  505 

tions,  of  which  nine  were  vacant,  and  six   unable  to 
support  a  pastor. 

The  venerable  Dr.  Power,  the  patriarch  of  the  Pres- 
bytery, was  spared  till  1830,  and  died  in  his  eighty- 
fifth  year.  A  strange  transformation  of  the  wilderness 
to  the  fruitful  field,  and  of  the  haunts  of  savages  to 
smiling  cities  and  villages,  had  been  wrought  before 
his  eyes.  There  were  scores  of  churches  scattered 
over  the  region  which,  when  he  first  traversed  it,  was 
little  more  than  a  hunting-ground  for  barbarous  tribes. 
The  place  which  he  selected  for  his  field  of  labor  was 
far  from  any  of  the  beaten  tracks  of  civilization.  It 
lay  beyond  the  mountains,  one  hundred  and  twenty 
miles  from  the  settlements  of  white  men.  No  macadam- 
ized road,  canal,  railroad,  or  navigable  stream  led  to  it. 
The  only  route  to  the  "  backwoods"  was  a  horse-path 
over  rocks,  precipices,  and  marshes,  or  through  the 
shadows  of  the  deep  and  tangled  forest.  Parties  of 
hostile  Indians  hovered  about  the  more  frequented 
tracks,  armed  with  their  tomahawks  and  scalping- 
knives.  The  very  nomenclature  of  the  towns  along 
the  route — "  Burned  Cabins,"  and  "  Bloody  Run" — indi- 
cated the  experience  which  the  traveller  had  to  dread. 
No  hotel,  no  settler's  cabin  even,  stood  convenient  to 
welcome  him  after  the  fatigues  of  the  day.  And  when 
he  had  reached  the  "  backwoods,"  he  found  himself 
surrounded  with  evidences  of  pioneer  hardship  and 
primitive  destitution.  Iron  had  to  be  tediously  trans- 
ported over  the  mountains.  Salt  cost  five  dollars  tho 
bushel.  Mills  for  grinding  had  not  yet  been  erected, 
except  at  remote  points;  while  the  terrors  of  Indian 
warfare  brooded  over  the  scattered  and  feeble  settle 
ments. 

There  was  not  in  the  whole  region  a  church-spire  to 
greet  the  traveller's  eye.  Except  in  inclement  weather, 
nature  furnished  temples  in  her  forests,  and  "the  aisles 

Vol.  1.— 43 


506  HISTORY    OF   PRESBYTEBIANISM. 

of  the  dim  wood"  rang  with  the  "hymns  of  lofty 
cheer"  with  which  the  sturdy  emigrant  sent  up  his 
praise  to  God.  And  when  the  rude  log  structure  was 
reared  for  a  shelter  to  the  worshipping  assembly,  there 
was  no  saw  or  plane  to  shape  the  rude  logs,  nor  a 
hammer  to  strike,  nor  a  nail  to  drive.1  The  clap-boards 
of  the  roof  were  bound  down  by  logs.  The  doors,  also 
made  of  clap-boards,  were  fastened  by  wooden  pins  to 
cross-bars  projecting  far  enough  on  one  side  to  form 
part  of  the  hinge.  The  windows  were  small  openings 
in  two  adjacent  logs,  and  were  glazed  with  oil-paper  or 
linen.  The  floors,  if  any  were  laid,  were  of  cleft  logs, 
smoothed  by  the  axe.  Sometimes  the  church  was  in 
shape  a  parallelogram, — sometimes  cruciform;  but  the 
twelve  sides  and  the  twelve  corners  were  not  accounted 
symbolic. 

Yet  in  such  structures  as  these,  scenes  of  deepest 
interest  occurred.  These  rude  piles  of  logs  were  wit- 
nesses to  pentecostal  seasons;  and  often  did  the  breath- 
less silence,  the  deep  sigh,  the  falling  tear,  or  the  ago- 
nizing cry  for  mercy,  attest  the  thrilling  power  of  the 
preacher's  appeal.  Nowhere  on  the  globe  was  the 
gospel  preached  with  greater  force  or  with  more  sim- 
plicity and  purity.  Churches  were  gathered  which  it 
tasked  the  missionary  pastors  to  supply,  and  a  Chris- 
tian civilization,  fast  pressing  on  the  track  of  the 
pioneer,  supplied  structures  for  worship  of  which  the 
older  settled  portions  of  the  country  need  not  have 
been  ashamed.  It  was  no  longer  necessary, — as  in 
early  times, — if  a  stream  was  swollen  so  that  it  could 
not  be  forded,  that  the  pastor,  unable  to  cross  to 
parties  who  wished  him  to  unite  them  in  the  marriage 
relation,  should  stand  on  one  side,  while  they  stood  on 
the  othei,  as  the  ceremony  was  performed.     The  Pitts- 

1  Sprague,  iii.  320. 


PENNSYLVANIA,    1800-1820.  507 

burg  region,  including  the  original  field  of  Redstone 
Presbytery,  embraced  at  the  time  of  Dr.  Power's  death, 
in  1830,  six  Presbyteries,  with  nearly  one  hundred 
ministers  and  more  than  one  hundred  and  seventy 
churches. 

Samuel  Porter  was  another  veteran  in  this  field. 
His  ancestry  were  Covenanters;  but  after  his  privilege 
of  listening  first  to  the  preaching  of  Dr.  King,  of 
Upper  West  Conococheague,  and  afterward  to  that 
of  Dr.  Joseph  Smith  and  Dr.  McMillan,  he  united 
himself  with  the  Presbyterian  Church.  By  their 
advice,  he  was  induced  to  prepare  himself  for  the 
ministry.  Without  a  regular  education,  but  with  a 
vigorous  intellect  and  a  somewhat  extended  acquaint- 
ance with  theology,  derived  from  reading  and  reflec- 
tion, he  applied  to  Eedstone  Presbytery  for  licen- 
sure in  1789.  In  the  following  year  he  was  installed 
pastor  of  the  congregations  of  Poke  Run  and  Con- 
gruity,  the  former  of  which  he  retained  only  till  1798, 
remaining  with  the  other,  however,  till  the  close  of  his 
life,  in  1825. 

In  several  respects  his  career  finds  a  parallel  in  that 
of  Patrick  Henry.  Both  were  remarkably  gifted  by 
nature ;  and  the  statesman  was  scarcely  a  more  consum- 
mate orator  than  the  divine.  Neither  had  enjoyed  the 
advantages  of  academical  or  extended  preparatory 
education,  and  each  was  surprised,  as  it  were,  into  his 
profession.  Like  Patrick  Henry,  Mr.  Porter  proved 
himself  equal  to  every  emergency.  In  the  Whiskey  In- 
surrection of  1794,  he  gave  a  most  striking  proof  of  the 
power  of  his  eloquence  in  his  successful  attempt  to 
restrain  the  pas-ions,  calm  the  excitement,  and  expose 
the  prejudices  of  the  insurgents.  Strange  stories  are 
told  of  his  mastery  over  the  minds  of  his  hearers,  of  his 
ready  wit.  sometimes  bordering  on  levity,  his  startling 
imagery,  his  graphic  descriptions,  and  his  overpowering 


508  HISTORY    OF    PRESBYTERIANISM. 

appeals.  A  competent  judge  who  once  listened  to  him  • 
while  he  addressed  the  assembly  in  a  beautiful  beech- 
wood  grove,  speaks  of  his  holding  "  the  large  assembly 
for  two  hours  in  breathless  attention,  while  a  torrent 
of  sweet  celestial  eloquence  poured  from  his  lips  with 
a  rapidity  and  pathos  that  dissolved  a  large  portion  of 
the  assembly  in  tears."  He  speaks  of  the  impression 
made  as  one  of  a  moral  and  intellectual  greatness 
which  he  had  "never  before  attached  to  any  human 
being." 

Another  veteran  pioneer  in  this  region  was  James 
Dunlap.  He  was  a  native  of  Chester  county,  Penn- 
sylvania, and  was  a  graduate  of  New  Jersey  College  in 
1773.  From  1775  to  1777  he  was  a  tutor  in  the  institu- 
tion, pursuing  his  theological  studies  at  the  same  time 
under  the  care  of  Dr.  Witherspoon.  In  the  autumn  of 
1782  he  united  with  Redstone  Presbytery,  and  became 
pastor  of  Dunlap's  Creek  and  Little  Redstone.  In  1789 
he  accepted  a  call  to  Laurel  Hill,  where  he  remained 
until  he  accepted  the  invitation  to  the  Presidency  and 
Professorship  of  Languages  at  Canonsburg  Academy, 
now  (1803)  transformed  into  Jefferson  College. 

In  1812,  on  account  of  his  health,  he  resigned  his 
office,  and  removed  to  New  Geneva,  about  thirty  miles 
distant,  where  he  labored  as  a  teacher.  In  the  follow- 
ing year  he  removed  to  Union  town,  to  take  charge  of 
the  academy  (now  Madison  College)  of  that  place.  In 
1816,  he  recrossed  the  mountains,  to  spend  his  remain- 
ing days  with  his  son  William,  pastor  at  Abington; 
and  two  years  later  his  death  occurred. 

As  a  preacher  he  was  distinguished  for  faithfulness 
and  eloquence.  Himself  a  living  example  of  Christian 
humility,  his  daily  life  was  a  constant  sermon.    But  as 

1  Dr.  David  Elliott.  A.  judge  quite  as  competent  as  Dr.  Elliott 
pronounces  the  account  given  above  greatly  exaggerated. 


PENNSYLVANIA,  1800-1820.  509 

a  classical  scholar,  and  as  an  Instructor,  he  stood  pre- 
eminent. It  is  praise  enough  for  him  to  say  that  ho 
was  accounted  above  others  the  fittest  man  to  succeed 
tho  accomplished  Watson  at  Canonsburg.  His  extreme 
sensibility  no  doubt  impaired  his  usefulness.  At  times 
he  was  the  victim  of  melancholy,  induced  perhaps  in 
part  by  his  enfeebled  health,  and  indisposing  him  to 
active  effort.  His  amiable  temper,  though  never  yield- 
ing to  an  implacable  spirit,  was  in  his  later  years  subject 
to  irritability;  but  a  moment's  reflection  was  enough 
to  restore  him  to  himself.  His  abstracted  mood  and  his 
tendency  to  a  brooding  meditation  disqualified  him  for 
that  measure  of  social  converse  which  would  perhaps 
have  proved  as  beneficial  to  himself  as  to  others;  but  it 
was  not  inconsistent  with  a  ready  disposition  to  assist 
and  sympathize  with  those  who  claimed  his  regard. 

Still  another  of  this  group  of  pioneers  in  Western 
Pennsylvania  was  John  McPherrin,1  a  native  of  Adams 
county,  Pa.,  a  pupil  of  Kobert  Smith  of  Pcqua,  and  a 
graduate  of  Dickinson  College  in  1788.  In  September, 
1790,  he  was  installed  pastor  of  Salem  and  Unity  con- 
gregations. In  1800  he  resigned  the  latter,  and  in 
1803  the  former,  and  removed  to  Concord  and  Muddy 
Creek,  in  the  bounds  of  Erie  Presbytery,  in  connection 
with  which  we  shall  meet  him  again. 

The  founder  of  the  church  in  Alleghany  was  Joseph 
Stockton,2  born  near  Chambersburg,  educated  at  Can- 
onsburg, and  a  theological  pupil  of  Dr.  McMillan.  In 
1801  he  was  installed  pastor  of  Meadville  and  Sugar 
Creels,  where  he  remained  till  1810,  when  he  became 
Principal  of4  Pittsburg  Academy,  supplying  at  the  same 
time  the  churches  of  Pine  Creek  and  Alleghany.  Re- 
signing his  academical  post  in  1820, he  devoted  his  whole 
time  to  these  churches  till  1829,  when  he  resigned  his 


Spraguc,  iv.  1M2  ;  also,  Old  Redstone.  2  Spraguc,  Jio. 

43* 


510  HISTORY    OF    PRESBYTERIANISM. 

charge  at  Alleghany,  and  for  the  three  remaining  years 
of  his  life  had  charge  of  the  church  at  Pine  Creek.  He 
was  one  of  the  first  instructors  in  the  Western  Theolo- 
gical Seminary,  and  had  much  influence  in  securing  its 
location  at  Alleghany. 

George  Hill,  another  member  of  the  Presbytery,  was 
settled  for  thirty  years  (1792-1822)  at  Fairfield  and 
Donegal,  in  connection  for  his  first  years  with  Wheat- 
land, and  subsequently  with  the  new  church  at  Ligonier 
(1798).  He  was  a  faithful  and  laborious  pastor,  shrink- 
ing from  no  personal  exposure  in  the  discharge  of  his 
duties.1  In  times  of  high  water,  he  has  been  known  to 
swim  the  Conemaugh  on  horseback,  preach  in  his  wet 
clothes,  recross  the  river,  and  return  to  his  own  house, — 
a  distance  of  ten  miles, — the  same  day.  But  such  was 
the  vigor  of  his  constitution  that  he  experienced  no  ill 
effects.  Exceedingly  humble  and  modest,  and  with 
great  sensibility,  he  had  yet  acuteness  of  intellect  and 
firmness  of  character,  and,  when  duty  called  him  to  the 
defence  of  truth,  he  did  not  shrink  from  it. 

Upon  the  death  of  Eobert  Steel,  in  1810,  Francis 
Herron2  was  called  to  succeed  him  as  pastor  of  the  First 
Church  of  Pittsburg.  He  was  at  this  time  thirty-six 
years  of  age,  and  had  already  made  full  proof  of  his 
ministry.  Of  Scotch-Irish  descent,  he  was  born  near 
Shippensburg,  Pa.,  and  was  graduated  at  Dickinson 
College  in  1794.  The  prayers  of  his  pious  parents  were 
answered  in  his  conversion,  and  after  studying  theology 
under  his  pastor,  Dr.  Eobert  Cooper,  he  was  licensed 
by  Carlisle  Presbytery,  October  4,  1797. 

He  entered  at  once  upon  the  ministerial  work,  travel- 
ling as  a  missionary  to  what  was  then  the  Western 
frontier,  the  town  of  Chillicothe, — where  the  first  land- 
office  north  of  the  Ohio  had  been  opened  but  three  years 

1  Old  Redstone,  415.  2  Wilson's  Presbyterian  Almanac. 


PENNSYLVANIA,    1800-1820.  511 

before, — preaching  on  his  way.  His  journey  led  him 
through  Pittsburg,  then  a  small  village;  and  at  Six-Mile 
Pun,  near  Wilkiusburg,  he  was  prevailed  upon  by  the 
people  to  delay  till  the  following  Sabbath,  when,  in  the 
Jack  of  a  house  of  worship,  he  preached  to  them  under 
the  shade  of  an  apple-tree.  Resuming  his  journey  the 
next  day,  he  pushed  on  to  his  destination,  with  a  frontier 
settler  for  his  guide,  and  directed  on  his  way  through 
an  almost  unbroken  wilderness  by  the  "  blazes"  on  the 
trees.  Two  nights  he  encamped  among  the  Indians, 
then  numerous  near  what  is  now  the  town  of  Marietta, 
Ohio. 

On  his  return  from  Chillicothe,  he  stopped  at  Pitts- 
burg. The  tavern-keeper  with  whom  he  lodged  was  an 
old  acquaintance,  and,  at  his  request,  the  young  minister 
consented  to  preach.  Notice  was  sent  around,  and  a 
congregation  of  about  eighteen  persons  assembled  in 
the  evening  in  a  rude  log  structure  occupying  the  site 
of  the  present  First  Presbyterian  Church.  Such  was  the 
primitive  style  of  that  day  that  the  swallows,  nested 
in  the  eaves,  flew  among  the  congregation. 

After  preaching  for  Dr.  McMillan,  and  participating 
in  the  scenes  of  the  revival  then  prevalent  in  the 
region,  he  received  a  call  from  Buffalo  Church;  but  an 
invitation  awaited  him  from  Rocky  Spring,  in  the 
vicinity  of  his  home,  and  this  he  concluded  to  accept. 
Here  he  was  installed,  April  8,  1800. 

After  a  successful  pastorate  of  ten  years,  he  was  called 
to  Pittsburgj  but  here  for  many  months  the  prevalent 
coldness  and  indifference  to  religious  things  seemed  to 
impose  a  barrier  to  success.  He  proposed  to  hold  prayer- 
meetings;  but  the  project  was  opposed.  In  concert  with 
Thomas  Hunt,  of  the  Second  Church,  he  persisted,  and, 
to  avoid  objection,  the  meetings  were  held  in  the  room 
occupied  by  Mr.  Hunt  as  a  day-school.  The  first  meet- 
ing consisted  of  the  two  pastors,  one  layman,  and  six 


512  HISTORY    OF    FRESBYTERIANISM. 

women,  and  for  eighteen  months  there  was  no  addition 
to  their  number.  Indifference  at  length  grew  into 
downright  hostility,  and  husbands  and  fathers  prohi- 
bited their  wives  and  daughters  from  attending.  Dr. 
Herron  was  told  that  the  meetings  must  be  stopped. 
"  Gentlemen,"  said  he,  "  these  meetings  will  not  stop  : 
you  are  at  liberty  to  do  as  you  please,  and  I  also  have 
liberty  to  worship  God  according  to  the  dictates  of  my 
conscience,  none  daring  to  molest  or  make  me  afraid." 
From  this  time  a  change  was  manifest.  Several  gay 
and  fashionable  persons  gave  evidence  of  conversion, 
and  a  deep  and  healthful  impression  was  made  upon  the 
whole  community. 

Combining  practical  tact  with  devotion  as  a  preacher 
and  loveliness  of  character  as  a  pastor,  Dr.  Herron  suc- 
ceeded in  relieving  the  church  from  the  incubus  of 
debt,  and  thenceforward  its  prospects  brightened.  Tho 
house  was  crowded.  The  congregation  and  the  mem- 
bership of  the  church  rapidly  increased.  The  church- 
edifice  was  enlarged,  and  from  this  time  his  ministry 
was  blessed  with  successive  and  powerful  revivals.  In 
1850,  when  he  had  reached  his  seventy-sixth  year,  he 
pressed  his  resignation  upon  a  reluctant  people;  but 
their  gratitude  followed  and  cheered  his  succeeding 
years,  till  he  rested  from  his  labors  at  the  ripe  age  of 
eighty-six. 

Warm  hearted  and  sincere,  his  heart  was  enlisted  in 
every  cause  which  promised  good  to  man  or  glory  to 
God.  His  public  spirit,  his  sincerity,  and  his  zeal  were 
acknowledged  by  all.  Missionary  enterprise  secured 
from  him  warm  sympathy  and  efficient  co-operation. 
He  was  the  fast  friend  of  sound  learning.  Patriotism 
was  a  part  of  his  religion,  and  his  heart  was  alike  true 
to  his  country  and  to  his  God.  He-  knew  the  worth  of 
human  liberty,  and  believed  that  these  United  States 
are  a  peculiar  heritage  of  freedom. 


PENNSYLVANIA,  1S00-1S20.  513 

In  1825,  when  the  General  Assembly  had  resolved  to 
found  a  Western  Theological  Seminary,  Dr.  Herron,  in 

concert  with  Dr.  Swift,  urged  the  claims  of  Alleghany 
City.  Successful  in  securing  the  location,  he  entered 
with  his  whole  heart  into  the  enterprise  of  sustaining 
the  institution.  He  seemed  to  rejoice  in  superabundance 
of  toil  in  its  behalf;  and  to  no  one  man  does  the  semi- 
nary owe  more  for  its  present  position  and  success  than 
to  Dr.  Herron. 

The  Second  Presbyterian  Church  of  Pittsburg  dates 
from  1803. J  It  originated  with  those  members  of  the 
First  Church  who  could  find  "no  kind  of  spiritual  ad- 
vantage" from  the  ministry  of  the  pastor,  Eev.  Robert 
Steel.  The  Synod  sanctioned  the  enterprise,  but  for 
many  years  it  gave  but  feeble  promise.  Messrs.  Snowden 
(1805)  and  Boggs  (1807)  were  settled  over  it, — each 
dismissed  after  a  few  weeks;  but  in  1810  Thomas  Hunt 
took  charge  of  it,  eking  out  a  scanty  salary  by  labor- 
ing as  teacher  of  a  day-school.  A  church-edifice  was 
erected  -,  but  the  debt  incurred,  reaching  at  length  the 
sum  of  ten  thousand  dollars,  bore  heavily  upon  the 
small  and  feeble  band.  At  times  the  prospect  seemed 
absolutely  cheerless,  and,  amid  the  financial  prostration 
that  followed  the  close  of  the  war,  it  was  felt  that  the 
enterprise  must  be  abandoned.2  Other  Presbyterian 
churches,  but  in  a  different  connection,  had  alread}'  been 
gathered  in  the  city,  which  now  numbered  from  seven 
to  eight  thousand  inhabitants.3     But  in  1819,  Elisha  P. 

1  Minutes  of  Pittsburg  Synod. 

2  Dr.  Swift's  Historical  Discourse. 

3  Rev.  Dr.  Black  was  ordained  in  1800,  in  the  Old  Court-House, 
pastor  of  the  Reformed  Presbyterian  Church  recently  organized, 
and  Rev.  Dr.  Bruce  in  1807  was  settled  over  the  First  Associate 
Church,  where  he  remained  till  184G.  The  death  of  Dr.  Black 
occurred  three  years  later.  In  1816,  Rev.  Dr.  McElroy,  now  of  New 
Vurk,  gathered  the  First  Associate  ilet'unued  Church  of  Pittsburg. 


514  HISTORY    OF    PRESBYTERIAN LSM. 

Swift  was  called  to  succeed  Mr.  Hunt  in  the  pastorate; 
and  under  his  ministry  the  prospects  of  the  church  be- 
came brighter,  until  at  length  it  was  established  on  a 
firm  basis.  Till  1835,  when  he  resigned  his  charge  to 
accept  a  professorship  in  the  Western  Theological  Semi- 
nary, he  continued  successful  and  abundant  in  his  labors 
as  pastor  of  the  Second  Church. 

In  1832,  in  connection  with  a  revival  in  the  First 
Church,  seventy-three  persons  were  added  to  its  com- 
munion on  profession  of  faith.  As  the  result,  a  new 
congregation  was  formed,  which  for  some  months  was 
supplied  by  Henry  A.  Riley.  In  March  (19),  1833,  the 
Third  Presbyterian  Church  was  organized,  consisting 
of  thirty-six  members.  Steps  were  taken  for  the  erec- 
tion of  a  church-edifice,  which  was  completed  in  the 
following  year.  Meanwhile  (January,  1834),  David  H. 
Riddle,  called  from  Winchester,  Va.,  had  been  installed 
pastor.  This  relation  he  continued  to  sustain  till,  at 
his  own  request,  he  was  dismissed,  in  1857,  soon  after 
which  he  was  succeeded  by  Dr.  Henry  Kendall.1 

The  Fourth  Church — known  till  after  the  erection  of 
the  Third  as  the  First  Church  of  Northern  Liberties — 
reported  in  1832  a  membership  of  fifty,  and  at  that  time 
had  succeeded  in  obtaining  as  pastor  Allan  D.  Camp- 
bell. In  1836,  the  pastors  of  the  four  churches  were 
Dr.  Herron,  Joseph  W.  Blythe,  successor  of  Dr.  Swift, 
David  H.  Riddle,  and  Dr.  Campbell.2 

1  Presbyterian  Historical  Almanac,  1861. 

2  The  Fifth  Presbyterian  Church  of  Pittsburg  was  organized  about 
the  year  1840.  In  1846,  it  was  vacant,  with  a  membership  of  one 
hundred  and  twelve.  In  1849,  under  the  pastorate  of  Nathaniel 
West,  it  withdrew  from  the  Presbytery  of  Pittsburg  and  joined  that 
of  Ohio. 

The  Sixth  Church  was  organized  about  the  year  1851.  In  1852, 
Thomas  B.  Wilson  was  installed  pastor,  and  remained  in  the  office 
till  1855. 


PENNSYLVANIA,    1800    I  515 

At  the  time  of  Dr.  Swift's  Bettleinonl  a1  Pittsburg,  in 
1819,  the  observer  might  have  scon,  north  of  the  Alle- 
ghany and  Ohio  Rivers,  a  beautiful  tract  of  land,  with 
thirty  or  forty  dwellings  interspersed  among  meadows, 
fields,  and  orchards,  destined  in  less  than  forty  years  to 
be  the  site  of  a  city  of  nearly  fifty  thousand  inhabitants.1 
When  it  was  resolved  by  the  General  Assembly  to  esta- 
blish a  Western  Theological  Seminary,  this  was  the  place 
selected  for  its  location,  and  here  it  commenced  opera- 
tions in  1827.  It  was  not,  however,  till  February,  1830, 
that  the  First  Presbyterian  Church  of  Alleghany  was 
organized,  with  fifty-four  members.  Until  the  settle- 
ment of  Dr.  Swift  in  the  pastorate,  in  1835,  it  enjoyed 
the  ministry  of  Joseph  Stockton,  John  Joyce,  and  Job 
F.  Halsey,  whose  pastorate  extended  from  1831  to  1835. 

William  Wylie,  settled  successively  at  Upper  and 
Lower  Sandy  and  Fairfield  (1802-05),  Eehoboth  and 
Round  Hill  (1805-16),  Uniontown  (1819-23),  Wheel- 
ing and  West  Liberty  (1823-32),  and  at  Newark,  O. 
(1832—54),  was  a  native  of  Washington  county,  Pa., 
where  he  was  born  July  10, 1776.  He  studied  first  with 
Thaddeus  Dod,  and  afterward  at  Canonsburg,  removing 
upon  the  conclusion  of  his  classical  course  to  Ken- 
tucky, where,  after  engaging  as  a  teacher  for  some 
years,  he  was  licensed  by  West  Lexington  Presbytery. 
His  experience*  at  the  West  fitted  him  for  the  hardships 
of  pioneer  life.  At  Uniontown,  Pa.,  he  preached  in  the 
court-house  and  in  the  orchards  and  groves  in  the 
vicinity,  and  thus  worked  zealously  and  faithfully, 
until,  when  he  left,  there  were  the  elements  out  of 
which  was  shortly  gathered  a  vigorous  and  growing 
church,  with  a  house  of  worship,  and  a  strong  Presby- 
terian influence  pervading  the  whole  community.  Jlis 
death  occurred  in  his  eighty-second  year. 

1  Dr.  Swift's  Historical  Discourse. 


616  HISTORY    OF    PRESBYTERIANISM. 

Dr.  James  Hervey,  in  1814  ordained  pastor  of  the 
Forks  of  Wheeling  and  Wheelingtown,  and  remaining 
in  charge  of  the  former  (1814-59)  for  more  than  forty 
years,  was  a  native  of  Virginia,  and  in  1810  a  graduate 
of  Jefferson  College.  A  humble,  consistent  Christian 
man,  and  a  faithful  minister,  he  commanded  high  re- 
spect and  esteem.1 

Dr.  Andrew  Wylie,  a  younger  brother  of  William 
Wylie,  was  elected  President  of  Jefferson  College  at  the 
early  age  of  twenty-three,  and  only  two  years  after 
he  had  received  as  a  graduate  the  highest  honors  of 
his  class.  Successively  President  of  Jefferson  (1812- 
16),  Washington  (1817),  and  Indiana  (1829)  Colleges, 
he  still  was  diligent  in  the  work  of  the  ministry, 
preaching  on  the  Sabbath,  sometimes  almost  gratui- 
tously, to  feeble  congregations.  While  at  Washington  he 
supplied  for  several  years  the  churches  Ten  Mile  and  West 
Liberty,  alternately,  and  for  six  or  eight  years  subsequently, 
till  his  removal  from  the  State,  the  church  at  Pigeon  Creek. 
In  his  later  years  he  became  convinced,  as  his  son  states, 
that  some  of  the  doctrines  of  our  Confession  of  Faith  were 
not  fully  in  accordance  with  Scripture,  and  sought  for  him- 
self a  larger  liberty  in  the  Episcopal  Church,  in  which  he 
was  ordained  priest  in  1842. 

Among  those  who  were  spared  to  witness  the  remarkable 
expansion  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  in  this  region,  and 
place  their  experience  on  record,  we  must  give  a  prominent 
place  to  Rev.  Dr.  E.  P.  Swift,  an  indefatigable  laborer  in 
w  this  field.  From  the  hills  of  Berkshire,  in  Massachusetts, 
he  brought  to  his  pastorate  in  Pittsburg  and  his  post  in 
connection  with  the  seminary  the  careful  training  of  a  New 
England  minister  and  a  hearty  zeal  for  the  Presbyterian 
order   and   faith.     For   several  years   before  the  Western 

1  Dismissed  from  the  congregation  of  Wheelingtown,  April  17, 1827. 
Wheeling  Second  Church  was  organized  May,  1826. 


PENNSYLVANIA,    1800-1820.  517 

Foreign  Missionary  Society  was  adopted  by  the  General 
Assembly  as  its  Board  of  Foreign  Missions,  Dr.  Swift 
labored  gratuitously  as  its  Corresponding  Secretary  and 
Genera]  Agent.  Spared  to  a  ripe  old  age,  he  could  say  in 
1857,  when  of  the  eighty-nine  members  of  the  Synod  at  the 
time  he  united  with  it  only  six  survived,  "  There  are  now, 
within  a  radius  of  five  miles,  not  less  than  one  hundred 
churches  of  all  denominations ;  whereas  there  were  at  the 
beginning  but  eleven,  and  some  of  these  small.  There  were 
but  two  organized  Presbyterian  churches  within  that  com- 
pass, having  a  membership  in  the  first  church  of  one  hun- 
dred and  sixty,  and  in  the  second  church  of  eighty-eight. 
From  these  have  grown,  besides  three  in  the  New  School 
connection,  fourteen  churches,  containing  in  all  ten  thousand 
four  hundred  and  sixty-five  members.  To  say  nothing  of 
the  others,  the  First,  Second  and  Third  Presbyterian 
churches  have  erected  edifices  which  would  adorn  any  city 
of  the  globe.  The  Associate  and  Associate  Reformed 
Presbyterians,  who  then  had  but  one  each,  have  now,  as  the 
United  Presbyterians,  nine  flourishing  churches.  The 
Reformed  Presbyterians,  who  then  had  but  one,  have  now 
four  churches,  each  of  them  probably  larger  than  the  one 
from  which  they  sprung." 

The  Presbytery  of  Ohio  at  the  time  of  the  erection 
of  the  Synod  of  Pittsburg,  and  after  the  ministers  and 
churches  constituting  Erie  Presbytery  had  been  set  off 
for  that  purpose,  consisted  of  sixteen  ministers  and 
thirty-four  congregations.  In  1819,2  it  had  increased  to 
twenty-eight  ministers  and  forty-five  congregations. 

At  Chartiers,  the  venerable  Dr.  McMillan  continued 
in  the  pastorate  for  over  fifty  years,  and  in  his  eightieth 
year  retained  the  vigor  of  a  hale  and  hearty  old  age. 
More  dependent  than  formerly  on  his  notes,  he  could 
yet,  he  said,  "bawl  almost  as  loud  as  ever."     Revival 


1  Minutes  of  Pittsburg  Synod. 


518  HISTORY    OF    PRESBYTERIANISM. 

after  revival  had  crowned  his  labors,  and  even  yet, 
after  relinquishing  his  charge,  his  heart  was  in  the 
work  to  which  he  had  devoted  his  life,  and  in  his  visits 
to  the  churches  and  his  occasional  discourses  he  still 
manifested  the  fervor  of  a  veteran  apostle.  Self-deny- 
ing, unostentatious,  simple  in  his  tastes  and  manners, 
with  no  object  but  to  glorify  his  Master  in  winning 
souls,  he  accomplished  an  amount  of  labor  and  exerted 
an  extended  influence,  the  result  of  which  must  long 
endure.     His  death  occurred  in  1833. * 

Joseph  Patterson's  labors  at  Raccoon  closed  in  1816, 
when  he  was  succeeded  by  Moses  Allen  (1817-38). 
Practical,  indefatigable,  fearless  in  the  discharge  of 
duty,  habitually  spiritual-minded  and  serious,  yet  pos- 
sessed of  an  inexhaustible  fund  of  genial  humor,  he  was 
remarkably  successful  in  his  efforts,  binding  others  to 
himself  by  his  affability,  his  social  affections  and  sym- 
pathies, and  forcing  them  to  feel  the  singleness  of 
aim  and  purpose  by  which  he  was  animated.  The  six- 
teen years  during  which  he  was  spared,  after  the 
failure  of  his  health  compelled  him  to  resign  his 
charge,  were  not  idly  spent.  Removing  to  Pittsburg, — 
then  a  thoroughfare  for  emigration, — he  labored  as  a 
colporteur,  or  city  missionary,  amid  the  afflicted  and 
destitute,  wThile  he  gave  cheerful  counsel  and  aid  to 
such  as  he  met  on  their  way  to  a  new  home  in  the 
West. 

The  pastorate  of  James  Hughes  over  the  churches 
of  Short  Creek  and  Lower  Buffalo,  Va.,  which  com- 
menced in  1790,  extended  to  1814,  when  he  took 
charge  of  the  Indian  Mission  in  and  about  Lewistown, 
removing  three  years  later  to  Oxford,  to  assume  the 
office  of  Principal  of  what  is  now  known  as  Miami 
University.     After  three  years  of  service  in  this  posi- 

1  His  successor  was  Lemuel  F.  Leake. 


PENNSYLVANIA,    1S00-1S20.  519 

tion,  his  death  occurred.  May  2,  1821.  As  an  earnest 
and  faithful  preacher  and  a  zealous  promoter  of  the 
cause  of  missions,  his  name  is  entitled  to  distinguished 
mention.  His  successor  at  Short  Creek  was  Joseph 
Anderson,  and  at  Lower  Buffalo,  after  an  interval  of 
some  years,  Jacob  Cozad,  a  licentiate  of  the  ^Presbytery 
in  1818. 

The  pastorate  of  John  Brice  over  the  churches  of 
Three  Kidges  and  Forks  of  Wheeling,  which  com- 
menced in  1790,  closed  in  1807,  when,  after  an  interval 
of  two  years,  he  was  succeeded  by  Joseph  Stevenson. 
The  latter,  however,  shortly  afterward  relinquished  his 
charge  at  the  Forks,  and  it  was  united  under  a  single 
pastoral  charge  with  Wheeling,  that  had  long  been 
vacant,  but  over  which  James  Hervey  was  settled  in 
1814. 

The  ministry  of  Thomas  Marquis  at  Cross  Creek 
extended  from  1794  till  1826,  when  the  infirmities  of 
age  compelled  him  to  resign  his  post.  His  labors  at 
Upper  Buffalo,  which  commenced  also  in  1794,  closed 
in  1798,  and  he  was  succeeded  here  in  1801  by  John 
Anderson,  whose  pastorate  closed  in  1833.  Few  men 
on  the  field  accomplished  so  much  or  left  behind 
them  so  enviable  a  reputation  as  Thomas  Marquis, 
"  the  silver-tongued."  He  was  at  once  a  pastor  and  a 
missionary,  a  laborer  himself  and  a  judicious  director 
of  the  labors  of  others.  Below  the  middle  stature,  but 
of  compact  build,  and  somewhat  corpulent,  he  retained 
to  his  last  years  a  remarkable  degree  of  activity  and 
vigor.  His  features  were  small,  but  finely  formed,  and 
the  lines  of  thought  were  traced  deeply  on  his  forehead. 
Mild  and  frank  in  common  intercourse,  courteous  yet 
dignified  in  his  demeanor,  he  never  repelled  by  aus- 
terity or  offended  by  levity  those  with  whom  he  was 
associated.  As  he  rose  in  the  pulpit,  evidently  under 
a  deep  sense  of  the  solemnity  of  his  office,  calm  and 


520  HISTORY    OF    PRESBYTERIANISM. 

composed,  as  well  as  earnest,  there  was  a  sweet  be- 
nignity in  his  tones  that  charmed  every  ear  and  at- 
tracted every  eye.  As  he  warmed  with  his  subject,  he 
bore  his  audience  with  him  on  the  tide  of  his  own 
emotion,  and  sometimes  their  intenseness  of  feeling 
seemed  to  outvie  his  own.  As  he  proceeded  in  his 
discourse,  it  was  manifest  that — master  of  his  theme — 
he  had  full  control  of  his  audience.  Logical  in  ar- 
rangement, perspicuous  in  expression,  "a  running 
brook  upon  a  silvery  bed  could  not  show  more  clearly 
the  pebbles  in  its  path  than  do  his  sentences  the  exact 
shade  of  idea  in  his  mind/'1  With  a  voice  remarkably 
musical  and  under  perfect  control,  and  a  power  and 
delicacy  of  emotion  ever  exhibited  in  the  speaking 
features  or  tearful  eye,  he  was  a  master  of  the  arts  of 
persuasion,  and  his  appeals  were  almost  irresistible.  On 
some  occasions,  hundreds  of  strong  men  were  to  be  seen 
weeping  like  children,  under  his  preaching.  By  Dr. 
Matthew  Brown,  President  of  Jefferson  College, — who 
indulged,  indeed,  at  times,  in  too  great  latitude  of  ex- 
pression,— he  was  pronounced  the  most  effective  orator 
to  whom  he  had  ever  listened.  To  a  remarkable 
extent  he  combined  "solemnity  with  vivacity,  mild- 
ness with  earnestness,  affection  with  authority,  and  a 
Christ-like  pungency"  in  the  application  of  truth  "with 
the  holy  unction  which  it  belongs  to  the  Spirit  alone  to 
impart."  Many  of  the  Presbyterian  congregations  in 
Ohio  had  their  foundations  laid  by  colonies  from  his 
church.2 

The  pastoral  labors  of  Thomas  Moore  at  Ten-Mile 


1  Sprague,  Annals,  iv.  88. 

2  It  is  said  that.  Dr.  Ashbel  Green,  after  hearing  Mr.  Marquis 
in  his  own  pulpit  in  Philadelphia,  was  so  deeply  affected  by  the 
matter  and  manner  of  his  discourse  that  he  resolved  to  abandon 
lis  own  method  and  adopt  that  of  Marquis. — Old  Redstone,  p.  434. 


PENNSYLVANIA,     1800-1820.  521 

closed  in  1803,  upon  his  removal  to  Salem,  and  his 
successor  was  the  son  of  his  gifted  predecessor,  Thad- 
deusDod.   His  dismission,  and  the  installation  of  Cephas 

Dodd,  took  place  at  the  same  meeting  of  Presbytery, 
Dec.  14,  1803.  Although  it  was  mid-winter,  the  services 
connected  wnth  the  ordination  and  installation  were  held 
in  Joseph  Kiggs's  "sugar-camp,  with  the  open  canopy 
of  the  heaven  for  a  temple,  the  snow  for  a  carpet,  and 
the  wind  whistling  through  the  leafless  branches  of  the 

to  to 

trees  as  an  accompaniment  to  the  solemn  music,  as  it 
pealed  forth  from  a  choir  consisting  of  hundreds  of 
voices."1 

The  pastor  was  the  honored  son  of  an  honored  father. 
He  possessed  a  clear,  strong  mind,  enriched  by  manly 
culture  and  varied  learning.  His  character,  in  which 
practical  wisdom,  a  tranquil  and  uniform  piety,  and  the 
sympathies  of  a  loyal  and  enduring  friendship  were 
combined,  wTas  singularly  complete,  harmonious,  and 
symmetrical.  A  good  scholar,  a  sound  divine,  a  pru- 
dent counsellor,  he  was  also  a  tender  and  faithful 
preacher.  In  addresses  on  sacramental  and  funeral 
occasions,  he  greatly  excelled.  Perhaps  his  deficiency 
in  doctrinal  preaching,  of  wThich  complaint  was  made, 
was  due  in  part  to  Mr.  Moore's  excess.  About  the 
year  1816,  he  relinquished  the  charge  of  Upper  Ten- 
Mile,  where  he  was  succeeded  by  Thomas  Hoge  (1817- 
19),  Andrew  Wylie  (1819-21),  Boyd  Mercer  (1821-22). 
Ludovicus  Bobbins,  Cornelius  Laughran,  Jacob  Lind- 
ley,  and  subsequently,  among  others,  James  M.  Smith 
and  Nicholas  Murray.  At  Lower  Ten-Mile,  or  Amity, 
Mr.  Dodd  continued  in  the  pastorate  until  increasing 
infirmities  compelled  him  to  resign  his  charge  (1855), 
after  a  ministry  of  over  half  a  century.  His  death 
occurred  in  1858. 

1  Wines's  Historical  Discourse,  18. 

44* 


522  HISTORY    OF    PRESBYTERIANISM. 

The  pastorate  of  Samuel  Ealston  at  Mingo  Creek 
and  Williamsport — now  Monongahela  City — continued 
at  the  former  place  for  forty  and  at  the  latter  for 
thirty-five  years  (1794-1829).  Till  fourscore  years  of 
age,  he  would  not  relinquish  his  sphere  of  active  service, 
and  for  the  remaining  fifteen  years  of  his  life  his  mind 
still  retained  much  of  the  vigor  of  earlier  years.  His 
career  closed  in  1851,  when  he  had  reached  his  ninety- 
fifth  year. 

At  Bethel  and  Lebanon,  William  Woods  was  called 
to  the  pastorate  on  the  decease  of  his  venerable  pre- 
decessor, John  Clark,  in  1797.  Of  the  former  he  re- 
tained the  pastoral  charge  for  thirty-four  years  (1797- 
1831),  resigning  the  other  after  a  period  of  nearly 
twenty-five.  His  successor  in  the  first  was  George 
Marshall,  and  in  the  last,  Thomas  D.  Baird.  Mr.  Woods 
was  a  native  of  Lancaster  county,  and  a  graduate  of 
Dickinson  College.  He  studied  theology  in  part  with 
Dr.  Smith  of  Pequa,  and  in  part  under  Dr.  Wither- 
spoon.  For  some  time  preceding  his  acceptance  of 
his  call  to  Lebanon  and  Bethel  he  labored  as  a  mis- 
sionary in  the  surrounding  region.1 

At  Mill  Creek  and  the  Flats,  George  M.  Scott  was 
settled  about  1801,  and  his  pastorate  continued  till 
April,  1826, — from  1819,  when  Washington  Presbytery 
was  erected,  as  a  member  of  that  body. 

At  Upper  Buffalo,  John  Anderson  commenced  his 
ministry  in  1801,  and  resigned  his  charge,  on  account 
of  declining  health,  in  1833.  Plain,  candid,  sincere, 
and  straightforward  in  all  his  intercourse,  he  had  little 
taste  for  display;  and  his  quick,  keen  discrimination 
of  character  was  almost  sure  to  penetrate  any  dis- 
guise. There  was  in  his  manner  a  deep  solemnity  and 
earnestness,  which  was  not  made  less  effective  by  his 

1  Old  Redstone,  354. 


1800-1820.  523 

slender  form,  thin  visage,  cadaverous  complexion,  and 
small,  dark  eye  which  kindled  responsive  to  his  quick 
emotions.  As  a  preacher  he  was  searching  and  pun- 
gent, and  his  discourses  were  well  digested  and  Logically 
arranged.  Eminent  as  a  theological  teacher,  a  warm 
friend  of  missions,  a  self-denying  and  devoted  pastor, 
he  holds  a  high  rank  among  the  pioneer  pastors  of  the 
Church.  For  several  years  preceding  his  settlement 
within  the  bounds  of  the  Presbytery,  he  itinerated  in 
Kentucky  and  Tennessee,  crossing  over  repeatedly  into 
Ohio  and  Indiana. 

At  Pigeon  Creek — for  some  time  a  part  of  Dr.  McMil- 
lan's charge — Andrew  Gwin  was  settled  in  1800,  and 
his  pastorate,  which  included  also  the  congregation  of 
Pike  Pun,  was  continued  till  Oct.  7,  1819.  Upon  his 
dismissal,  Dr.  Andrew  Wylie  served  some  years  as 
stated  supply.1 

Miller's  Pun,  three  miles  distant  from  Canonsburg, 
was  supplied  by  John  Watson,  who  had  charge  of  the 
institution  at  the  latter  place  from  the  time  of  his  licen- 
sure in  1798  till  his  death  in  1802.  Dr.  James  Dunlap, 
who  succeeded  him  as  President  of  what  had  now 
become  Jefferson  College,  succeeded  him  also  as  pastor 
of  the  church  until  his  resignation  of  the  Presidency 
and  his  removal  to  Xew  Geneva,  in  1812.  His  successor 
at  Miller's  Pun,  as  well  as  in  the  Presidency  of  the 

1  The  succeeding  pastors  -were  Dr.  W.  C.  Anderson,  1832-3G;  E.  S. 
Graham,  1836-44;  and  James  Sloan.  Communicants  in  1854,  three 
hundred  and  seventy. 

Andrew  Gwin  occasioned  no  little  trouble  to  the  Presbytery; 
and  his  case  was  finally  carried  up  to  the  Synod  and  General  As- 
sembly. Dr.  McMillan  at  first  took  his  part,  but  finally  was  con- 
vinced that  his  judgment  had  been  too  favorable.  The  records  of 
the  General  Assembly  reveal  little  of  the  character  of  the  difficulty. 
The  Presbytery  suspended  him  from  the  ministry;  and  when  the 
Bynod  had  reversed  the  decision,  the  Assembly  sustained  the 
Presbytery.     This  was  in  1819. 


524  HISTORY   or   PRESBYTERIANISM. 

college  was  Dr.  Andrew  Wylie  (1812-16),  upon  whose  re- 
signation as  President,  William  McMillan,  a  nephew  of 
the  venerable  Dr.  John  McMillan,  was  elected  to  the 
vacant  post,  and  succeeded  him  also  at  Miller's  Run. 
The  resignation  of  President  McMillan  took  place  in 
1822.  The  church  was  subsequently  for  many  years 
under  the  care  of  William  Smith,  professor  in  the 
college,  while  the  newly-organized  church  at  Canons- 
burg  enjoyed  the  services  of  Dr.  Matthew  Brown,  the 
successor  of  McMillan  in  the  Presidency. 

At  Washington,  which  had  been  vacant  many  years,1 
President  Brown  was  settled  in  the  spring  of  1805. 
Here  he  labored  in  the  double  capacity  of  pastor, 
and  Principal  of  the  Washington  Academy,  char- 
tered in  1787,  but  originated  largely  through  the  en- 
terprise of  that  pioneer  of  Redstone  Presbytery,  Thad- 
deus  Dod.  In  the  spring  of  1806,  a  year  from  the 
time  when  Dr.  BrowTn  took  charge  of  the  institution, 
it  was  merged  into  Washington  College;  and  he  re- 
tained the  Presidency  until  difficulties  wThich  occurred 
led  to  his  resignation  in  1816.  Although  urgently 
invited  to  other  spheres  of  effort,  he  retained  the 
pastorate  of  the  church  until  his  acceptance  of  the 
Presidency  of  Jefferson  College  in  1822.  His  suc- 
cessor at  Washington  in  the  Presidency  was  Dr. 
Andrew  Wylie,  and  in  the  pastorate  of  the  church 
Obadiah  Jennings,  subsequently  of  Nashville,  and  son 
of  Jacob  Jennings  of  Dunlap's  Creek. 

At  Richland,  Ohio,  Short  Creek  (West  Liberty,  Va.), 
and  Cross-Roads,  Joseph  Anderson,  a  licentiate  of  Ohio 
Presbytery  in  1799  or  1800,  commenced,  shortly  after, 
a  pastorate  which  was  continued  at  Short  Creek  and 
St.  Clairsville  for  about  thirty  years,  and  in  connec- 
tion with    Steubenville   Presbytery  after   its    erection 

1  See  Assembly's  Minutes  for  1799  and  1803. 


525 

in  1818.  His  successor  al  Short  Creek  was  Benjamin 
Mitchel  in  1830,  and  al  Cross-Boads1 — united  with 
Three  Springs  under  one  pastoral  charge — Elisha 
Macurdy  in  June,  1800. 

Few  men  have  accomplished  more  for  the  cause  of 
Christ  than  Mr.  .Macurdy.  With  no  brilliant  or 
striking  qualities,  he  was  distinguished  by  sound 
practical  judgment  and  strong  common  sense.  Of 
medium  size,  sandy  hair  and  complexion,  with  nothing 
peculiarly  marked  in  his  features,  the  ordinary  ob- 
server would  have  discovered  nothing  in  bis  appear- 
ance to  attract  special  attention.  But  his  sagacity  in 
the  discernment  of  character,  and  the  readiness  with 
which  be  could  adapt  himself  to  different  types  of  in- 
tellect and  feeling,  conjoined  with  an  uncommon  con- 
stitutional ardor,  which  was  hallowed  by  an  unreserved 
consecration  to  his  Master's  work,  made  him  re- 
markably effective  in  the  spheres  of  labor  wThich  he 
was  called  to  occupy.  Nothing  could  daunt  his  reso- 
lution. Difficulty  fired  rather  than  taxed  his  energy. 
As  a  preacher  he  was  direct,  earnest,  and  bold,  never 
daubing  wTith  untempered  mortar,  or  softening  down 
the  truth  of  God  to  make  it  palatable  to  squeamish 
consciences.  With  little  of  literary  taste  or  refine- 
ment, his  uncompromising  plainness,  his  manifest  sin- 
cerity, his  deep-toned  piety,  and  the  strictly  evangelical 
character  of  his  utterances,  supplied  every  minor 
defect.  In  the  revivals  which  occurred  during  the 
early  period  of  his  ministry  in  Western  Pennsylvania, 
he  took  a  leading  part;  and  his  labors  in  the  cause  of 
missions,  both  by  itinerating  among  the  new  settle- 
ments and  in  visiting  the  Synod's  missions  to  the 
Indians,  attest  his  persevering  ardor  ;n  the  great  work 


1  It  is  possible  that   the  Cross-Roads  of  Anderson's  is  net  the 
same  with  that  of  Macurdy's  charge. 


526  HISTORY    OF    PRESBYTERIANISM. 

to  which  he  had  devoted  his  life.  In  the  fall  of  1823, 
in  consequence  of  enfeebled  health,  he  was  constrained 
to  resign  his  charge  of  Three  Springs,  and  in  1835 
that  of  Cross-Eoads.  At  the  former,  in  conjunction 
with  the  Flats,  he  was  succeeded  by  Samuel  Reed,  and 
at  the  latter  by  L.  R.  McAboy.  His  death  occurred 
July,  1845,  in  his  eighty-third  year. 

At  Steubenville  and  Island  Creek,  James  Snodgrass, 
a  candidate  under  the  care  of  the  Presbytery  in  1799, 
commenced  his  labors  in  1802.  To  this  field  he  was 
sent  as  a  missionary  by  the  Presbytery.1  In  (October) 
1816  he  was  dismissed,  and  at  Steubenville  was  suc- 
ceeded first  by  Obadiah  Jennings,  who  subsequently 
(1822)  removed  to  Washington,  and,  after  his  dismission, 
by  Charles  Clinton  Beatty  (1823-37).  In  1838-39,  the 
Second  Church,  gathered  by  Dr.  Beatty's  labors,  called 
him  as  its  pastor  (1838—47).  Crab  Apple  and  Beech 
Spring  congregations  appear  to  have  been  gathered 
shortly  after  1802;  and  of  these  John  Rhea  had  for 
many  years  the  pastoral  charge.  At  Crab  Apple  his 
successors  were  Thomas  Clark  (June,  1811-1820),* 
Solomon  Cowles  (1822-30),  and  subsequently  Jacob 
Coon  (1831)  and  Moses  Allen;  while  his  pastorate  at 
Beech  Spring  continued  for  nearly  fifty  years. 

Two  Ridges  and  Yellow  Creek  (Richmond)  became 
the  pastoral  charge  of  William  McMillan  in  1806.  In 
1812  he  was  dismissed,  subsequently  accepting  the 
Presidency  of  Jefferson  College.  After  a  vacancy  of 
some  years,  his  successor  (1819)  was  Thomas  Hunt, 
whose  pastorate  continued  till  near  1840. 


i  Minutes  of  1803.  From  1819  to  1825  he  was  pastor  of  Island 
Creek.     His  successor  here  was  John  E.  Tidball. 

2  Nottingham  became  a  part  of  Mr.  Clark's  charge  as  early  as 
[817.  A  year  or  two  later,  Fairview  was  joined  with  it;  and  in 
1822,  William  Wallace  became  pastor  of  both. 


PENNSYLVANIA,    1S00-1820.  527 

To  complete  the  list  of  the  pastors  of  the  Presbytery 
from  1800  to  1819,  it  is  only  necessary  to  add  that  in 
1812  Michael  Law  was  settled  at  Montour's  Run  (as 
successor  of  J.  McLean,  dismissed  1808)  and  Hopewell; 
in  1809,  Joseph  Stevenson  at  Three  Eidges  and  Wheel- 
ing, Andrew  McDonald  in  1810  at  White  Oak,  the 
F\sl%  and  Flagerty's  Eun  (1810-23);  and  Thomas 
Hoge  (1818,  s.  s.)  at  East  Buffalo,  and  three  or  four 
years  later  at  Claysville.1 

The  churches  vacant  and  unable  to  support  a  pastor 
were,  in  1803,  Jefferson,  Waynesburg,  Chai'lestown, 
Grave  Creek,  Yellow  Creek,  and  Long's  Eun;  in  1819, 
Concord,  Hopewell,  Cross-Eoads,  and  Charlestown. 
At  the  latter  date,  Pigeon  Creek,  Lower  Buffalo,  Short 
Creek,  New  Providence,  and  Jefferson  were  vacant,  but 
able  to  support  a  pastor. 

The  Presbytery  of  Erie,  erected  in  1801,  embraced 
the  northwestern  portion  of  the  field  covered  by  the 
two  Presbyteries  of  Redstone  and  Ohio,  out  of  which 
it  was  formed.  A  portion  of  Eastern  Ohio — and  at 
length  the  Western  Reserve — was  embraced  within  its 
bounds.  Its  original  membership  consisted  of  five 
ministers, — Thomas  E.  Hughes  at  Salem  (till  1808)  and 
Mount  Pleasant  (till  1839),  William  Wick  at  Hopewell 
and  Youngstown  (1799-1814),  Samuel  Tait  at  Upper 
Salem  (1800-06)  and  Cool  Spring,  subsequently  at  Mer- 
cer (1807-41)  and  Salem  (1814-20),  Joseph  Stockton  at 
Meadville  and  Sugar  Creek  (1800-10),  and  Robert  Lee 
(till  1807)  at  Amity  and  Big  Spring. 

The  accessions  to  the  Presbytery  at  its  organization,  or 
soon  after,  were  James  Satterfield,2  settled  at  Moorfield  and 

1  In  1814,  James  Hervey  was  settled  as  pastor  of  Wheeling  Town 
and  Forks  of  Wheeling.  Mr.  Stevenson  (dismissed  from  Three 
Ridges  in  1825)  was  succeeded  in  1828  by  John  MeClusky. 

2  Satterfield  and  Wylie  were  original  members  of  Erie  Presbytery. 


528  HISTORY    OF    PRESBYTERIANISM. 

Upper  Neshanock  (1802-12),  William  Wylie  at  Fairfield 
and  Upper  and  Lower  Sandy  (1802-05),  John  Boyd  at 
Union  and  Slate  Lick  (1803-10),  and  Abraham  Boyd  at 
Bull  Creek  (1803-20),  Middlesex  (1803-17),  and  subse- 
quently (1817-21)  Deer  Creek.  The  vacant  churches  of 
the  Presbytery,  including  Erie,  Oil  Creek,  Poland,  Warren, 
and  several  more  on  the  Reserve,  numbered  twenty-one. 

In  1803,  Mr.  Badger  wrote,  "  Twelve  ministers  are 
now  settled  north  of  the  Ohio  waters  in  Pennsylvania. 
These,  with  Mr.  Wick  and  myself  in  this  county/  form 
the  Erie  Presbytery.  There  are  sixteen  congregations 
newly  formed  within  the  bounds  of  this  Presbytery,  who  are 
seeking  for  supplies,  and  several  for  candidates  to  settle 
with  them ;  but  there  are  not  more  than  two  or  three 
licentiates  on  this  side  of  the  mountain.  Several  con- 
gregations will  be  formed  in  this  county  within  another 
year." 

During  the  year  (1802)  William  Wood  was  settled 
at  Centre  (1802-08)  and  Plain  Grove  (1802-16) ;  Alex- 
ander Cook  at  Slippery  Spring  and  New  Castle  (1803- 
09),  and  Robert  Patterson  at  Upper  and  Lower  Green- 
field (1803-07).  In  1804,  Robert  Johnston  was  settled 
at  Bear  Creek  (1804-07)  and  Scrub  Grass  (1803-11), 
Nicholas  Pittenger  at  Westfield  (1804-08)  and  Poland 
(1804-10),  and  John  McPherrin,  whose  pastorate  at 
Salem,  in  connection  with  Redstone  Presbytery,  closed 
in  1803,  commenced  his  labors  at  Concord  and  Muddy 
Creek, — Concord  and  Harmony  (1809-14),  and  subse- 
quently Concord  and  Butler,  forming  his  charge  till  his 
death  in  1822.2 


Satterfield  died  in  1857, — a  member  at  that  time  of  Beaver  Presby- 
tery,— aged  ninety  years. 

1  Trumbull  county,  or  the  Western  Keserve. 

2  Over  the  congregation  of  Butler,  which   he  is  said  to   have 


PENNSYLVANIA    1800-1830.  529 

111  1807,  Benjamin  Boyd '  was  ordained  and  installed 
pastor  of  Beulah,  Trumbull,  and  Pymatuning  (1800-09), 
and  Samuel  Tait,  dismissed  from  Upper  Salem,  was  settled 
at  Mercer  (1-806-41)  and  Cool  Spring,  subsequently  Salem. 
In  1808,  Cyrus  Riggs  was  settled  at  Fairfield  and  Mill 
Creek  (1807-12) ;  Reed  Bracken  at  Plane  (1808-19)  and 
Nebo  (1808-45) ;  Johnston  Eaton  at  Springfield  and  Fair- 
view  (1808-15),  taking  charge  in  1815  of  Fairview  (1815- 
47),  Erie,  and  North-East,  demitting  the  charge  of  North- 
East  after  1817,  and  of  Erie  after  1822;  and  James  Boyd 
at  Newtown  and  Warren  (1808-13).2 

In  1808,  the  Presbytery  of  Hartford  was  formed  from 
that  of  Erie,  by  setting  off  to  it  eight  ministers  with  their 
congregations,  covering  the  region  of  the  Western  Reserve. 
In  1810,  John  Matthews  was  settled  at  Gravel  Run  (1810- 
14)  and  Waterford  (1810-17).  In  1811,  Robert  Johnston 
was  settled  at  Meadville,  Sugar  Creek,  and  Conneaut  Lake 
(1811-17).  In  1814,  Cyrus  Riggs  was  settled  at  Scrub 
Grass  (1814-23)  and  West  Unity  (1814-21),  and  Ira  Con- 
dit  at  Fairfield  and  Big  Sugar  Creek,  retaining  the  former — 
in  connection  for  a  period  with  Georgetown  and  Cool 
Spring — for  many  years.  In  1815,  John  Redick  was 
settled  at  Slate  Lick  and  Union  (1815-48),  and  in  1818, 
John  Munson  at  Plain  Grove  and  Centre,  where  he  re- 
mained during  an  extended  pastorate.  In  1819,  Phineas 
Camp  was  settled  at  Westfield — formerly  Chetauque  Cross- 
Roads— (1819-21),  and  Reed  Bracken  at  Middlesex.  In 
1821,  John  Van  Liew  commenced  his  pastorate  at  Mead- 
ville. 

The  vacant  churches  of  the  Presbytery  numbered 
twenty   in    1802;    and    of   these   twelve   were    unable   to 

gathered,  he  was  installed  in  1813. — Records  of  Synod  of  Pittsburg, 
p.  106. 

1  Ordained  in  1806.  Labored  in  later  years  in  Kentucky  and  In- 
diana.    Died  at  Newport,  Ky.,  in  1859. 

1  His  death  occurred  in  1813. 
Vol.  I.— 45 


530  HISTCKY    OF    PRESBYTERIANISM. 

support  a  pastor.  In  1808,  the  nine  ordained  min- 
isters of  the  Presbytery  had  increased  to  nineteen,  and 
the  congregations  had  risen  from  thirty-nine  to  sixty- 
five,  of  which  thirty-seven  were  vacant,— twenty-six 
being  unable  to  support  a  pastor.  Hartford  Presby- 
tery— known  as  Beaver  after  1833 — numbered  in  1815 
— seven  years  after  its  erection — thirteen  ministers, 
and  forty-one  congregations,  of  which  fifteen  were 
vacant.  In  1820  the  Presbytery  of  Alleghany  was 
formed  from  that  of  Erie,  the  latter  numbering  in 
the  following  year  seven  ministers  and  twenty-nine 
congregations. 

Of  the  members  of  Erie  Presbytery — occupying  for 
several  years  after  its  erection  one  of  the  most  ar- 
duous posts  of  frontier  missionary  service — we  should 
welcome  a  more  extended  record  than  any  that  has 
been  left  us.  Nearly  all  of  them  were,  in  fact,  primi- 
tive bishops.  Groups  of  churches  have  sprung  up 
within  what  were  once  the  bounds  of  a  single  parish. 
Yet  the  pastors  of  the  Presbytery  often  extended 
their  preaching-tours  to  regions  far  distant,  devoting 
from  one-fourth  to  one-half  of  their  time  to  strictly 
missionary  labor,  and  in  many  instances  absenting 
themselves  from  home  for  months,  in  order  to  visit 
the  stations  among  the  Indian  tribes. 

Among  these  men  were  Thomas  E.  Hughes,  the  first 
minister  of  the  gospel  who  settled  north  of  the  Ohio 
River,  laboring  for  more  than  thirty  years  as  the  pastor 
of  Mount  Pleasant  congregation,  and  rewarded  by  the 
fruits  of  repeated  revivals, — a  man  whose  dying  testi- 
mony, "  I  feel  unworthy  to  use  such  strong  language 
as  I  might  in  truth,  in  speaking  of  the  rich  enjoyment 
the  Lord  permits  me  to  experience, "  was  worthy  of  his 
life;  William  Wick,  a  native  of  Long  Island,  a  theo- 
logical pupil  of  Dr.  McMillan,  the  first  settled  minister 
on  the  Reserve,  and  ever  the  missionary  and  the  friend 


PENNSYLVANIA,    1800-1 S20.  531 

of  missions;  Samuel  Tait,  whose  Bound  Beuse  and  un- 
swerving integrity  wore  proverbial,  and  of  whom  his 
pupil  and  successor  remarked,  "His  spiritual  children 
I  find  wherever  I  go  throughout  the  Presbytery ;" 
Joseph  Stockton,  already  mentioned,  eminent  as  a 
teacher  as  well  as  for  usefulness  in  the  pulpit,  whose 
name  is  ever  identified  with  the  Western  Theological 
Seminary ;  William  Wood,  a  native  of  York  county,  and 
educated,  like  so  many  others,  at  Canonsburg  Academy  and 
Dr.  McMillan's  Log  Cabin,  under  whose  labors  nearly  one 
thousand  were  added  to  the  church  ;  together  with  others 
like  Satterfield,  Wylie,  Cook,  Johnston,  Pittenger,  and  the 
Boyds,  the  proper  monuments  of  whose  labors  are  to  be 
sought,  not  in  the  minutes  of  Presbyterial  reports,  but  in 
the  foundations  of  society  itself.1 

1  The  vacant  churches  of  the  Presbyteries  constituting  the  Synod 
of  Pittsburg  were,  in  1802,  Pittsburg,  Greensburg  and  Unity, 
Pitt's  Township,  McKeesport,  Morgantown  and  Middletown,  New 
Providence,  Uniontown,  Tyrone,  Sandy  Creek,  Crossings,  Clarks- 
burg, Tygart's  Valley,  Somerset,  Turkey  Foot,  Wheatfield  and 
Stony  Creek,  in  Redstone  Presbytery;  Washington,  Lancaster  and 
Rush  Creek,  Jefferson,  Waynesburg,  Charlestown,  Grave  Creek, 
Yellow  Creek,  and  Long's  Run,  in  Ohio  Presbytery;  and  Warren, 
Breakneck,  Thorn's  Tent,  Concord,  Franklin,  Big  Sugar  Creek, 
Oil  Creek,  Gravel  Run,  Middle  Brook,  Power's  Mill,  Crossings  of 
Cussawaga,  Pymatuning,  Slippery  Rock  and  Lower  Neshanock,  West- 
field  and  Poland,  Upper  and  Lower  Greenfield,  and  Erie. 

As  the  Presbyteries  extended,  new  congregations  came  under 
their  care,  not  only  in  Western  Pennsylvania,  but  in  Southeastern 
Ohio  and  in  the  region  of  the  Western  Reserve.  The  new  congre- 
gations reported  are  (1803)  Quenmahoning  (Redstone  Presby- 
tery) ;  Conneaut  Lake,  Muddy  Creek.  Springfield.  Mount  Pleasant, 
Salt  Springs,  Beulah,  Trumbull,  Broken  Straw,  Franklin,  Plain 
Grove,  Centre  (Erie  Presbytery) ;  Moorfields.  Upper  Neshanock,  and 
Washington  (Ohio  Presbytery) ;  (1805)  Monongahela  Glades,  Co- 
wanshawanick,  Cherry  Hill  (Redstone  Presbytery)  ;  Pit-Hole, 
Outlet  of  Conneaut,  Waterford,  Congruity,  and  Mt.  Nebo  (Erie 
Presbytery)  ;  Crab  Apple  and  Beech    Spring    (Ohio    Presbytery)  ; 


532  HISTORY    OF    PRESBYTERIANISM. 

Meanwhile,  the  Presbyteries  of  Steubenville  and  of 
Washington  had  been  formed  (1819)  from  that  of  Ohio, 

(1806)  Fairview,  Upper  and  Lower  Sugar  Creek,  Mill  Creek,  Port- 
land, Little  Sugar  Creek,  Connewango,  Beavertown,  Harmony, 
Mercer  (Erie  Presbytery);  (1807)  Plain,  Newton,  Rocky  Spring  and 
Amity,  Hartford,  Smithfield,  Upper  Salem,  Vienna,  Bristol,  Pal- 
myra, Mesopotamia,  Miles  Settlement  (Erie  Presbytery)  ;  White 
Oak  Flats,  Hopewell,  Will's  Creek,  Mine  Run,  Federal  Creek, 
Athens,  Leading  Creek,  Gallipolis,  Kanawa,  Middle  Island,  Centre, 
Salem,  Pickaway  Plains,  New  Lisbon,  and  Long's  Run  (Ohio  Pres- 
bytery) ;  (1808)  Beulah,  Indiana  (Redstone  Presbytery) ;  Clinton, 
Frederick,  Ebenezer,  Springfield,  Worthington,  Crooked  Creek, 
Federal  Creek,  Middle  Island,  Greenville,  Clear  Creek  (Ohio  Pres- 
bytery) ;  East  Unity,  Boardman,  Austinburg  and  Morgan,  Indiana 
(Erie  Presbytery)  ;  Vernon,  Brookfield,  Hubbard,  Richfield,  Hud- 
son, Talmadge,  Burton,  Canfield,  Westfield,  Trumbull  (Hartford 
Presbytery);  (1809)  West  Unity  (Erie  Presbytery) ;  (1810)  War- 
ren, McMahon's  Creek  (Ohio  Presbytery)  ;  Chetauque,  Mayville, 
Beech  Woods  (Erie  Presbytery)  ;  Newton  and  Warren,  Ellsworth, 
Euclid,  Harpersfield,  Upper  Salem,  Green,  Columbiana  (Hartford 
Presbytery);  (1811)  Red  Bank,  Glade  Run  (Redstone  Presbytery); 
Grey's  Station  (Ohio  Presbytery);  North-East,  Chetauque  Cross- 
Roads, — subsequently  Westfield  (Erie  Presbytery) ;  Aurora,  Hud- 
son, Cool  Spring  (Hartford  Presbytery)  ;  (1812)  Williamsport,  or 
Horse-Shoe  Bottom,  Sardis  (Ohio  Presbytery)  ;  Brookfield,  Canton, 
Henderson,  Mantua  (Hartford  Presbytery)  ;  (1813)  Cherry  Run 
(Redstone  Presbytery);  (1814)  Alleghany  and  Pine  Creek,  Browns- 
ville, Highland,  Upper  Plum  Creek  (Redstone  Presbytery) ;  Cherry 
Tree,  Toby's  Creek,  Sandy  Lick,  Butler  (Erie  Presbytery);  (1815) 
West  Liberty,  Clarksburg,  French  Creek,  Bethany  (Ohio  Presbytery) ; 
Deer  Creek  (Erie  Presbytery) ;  Kinsman,  Rootstown,  Hamden, 
Nelson,  Sharon,  Talmadge  (Grand  River  Presbytery)  ;  (1816) 
Richland  (Erie  Presbytery) ;  Benton,  Harpersfield,  Painesville, 
Mantua,  Dover,  Madison,  Green,  Johnston  (Grand  River  Presb}'- 
bytery)  ;  Boardman,  Yellow  Creek,  Scotch  Settlement  (Hartford 
Presbytery)  ;  (1817)  Hopewell  (Erie  Presbytery)  ;  Brickville,  Wil- 
liamsfield  (or  Wayne),  Kingsville,  Ashtabula,  Beuville,  Bristol, 
Bloomfield,  Wheatsborough  (Grand  River  Presbytery)  ;  (1818) 
Gun's  Cross-Roads,  Hagerstown,  Brushy  Fork  of  Stillwater  (Ohio 
Presbytery) ;   Titeaute,  Lottsville  .Erie  Presbytery) ;    Stow,  Harris- 


PENNSYLVANIA,    1800-IS20.  533 

— the  first  with  eight  mil  isters,  Lyman  Potter,  Joseph 
Anderson  at  Richland  and  Short  I  Ireek,  James Snodgrasa 
at  Island  Creek,  Jolin  Rhea  at  Beech  Spring,  Thomas 
Hunt  at  Two  Ridges  and  Richmond,  Obadiah  Jennings 
a:  Steubenville,  and  Thomas  B.  Clark;  the  last  with 
nine  ministers,  Thomas  Marquis  at  Cross  Creek, 
George  M.  Scott  at  Mill  Creek  and  Flats,  John  An- 
derson at  Upper  Buffalo,  Elisha  Macurdy  at  Cross- 
Eoads,  Cephas  Dodd  at  Lower  Ten-Mile,  Joseph  Ste- 
venson at  Three  Eidges,  Andrew  Wylie,  President  of 
"Washington  College,  James  Hervey  at  Forks  of  Wheel- 
ing and  Wheelingtbwn,  and  Thomas  Iioge  stated  supply 
at  East  Buffalo  and  Claysville. 

The  Presbytery  of  Grand  Eiver,  formed  from  that 
of  Hartford  in  1814,  and  the  Presbytery  of  Portage, 
formed  from  that  of  Grand  Eiver  in  1818,  although 
lying  within  the  bounds  of  Ohio  and  covering  the  region 
of  the  Western  Reserve,  were  in  connection  with  the 
Synod  of  Pittsburg.     In  1820,  the  Presbj^teries  consti- 


ville,  Black  River,  Florence  (Grand  River  Presbytery) ;  (1819)  Ar- 
magh,  Morgantown  and  George's  Creek,  French  Creek  and  Bu- 
chanan (Redstone  Presbytery)  ;  Wellsburg  (Ohio  Presbytery) ; 
Cossawaga,  Red  Bank  (Erie  Presbytery)  ;  Morgan,  Huntsburg, 
Thompson,  Andover,  Charden,  Braceville,  Grearsburg,  Westfield, 
Mesopotamia,  Salem,  Bainbridge,  Farmington  (Grand  River  Pres- 
bytery);  Deerfield  (Hartford  Presbytery);  Burrell's  Settlement, 
Wadsworth,  Sandusky  City,  Harrisville,  Brooklyn,  Margaretta, 
Palmyra,  Brownhelm,  Fitch ville,  Shalersville  (Portage  Presby- 
tery); (1820)  Bethesda  (Hartford  Presbytery);  Rome,  Kirtland, 
(Grand  River  Presbytery);  Lyme,  Strongsville,  Norwalk,  Granger, 
Medina,  Atwater,  Randolph,  Palmyra,  Franklin,  Thorndyke  (Por- 
tage Presbytery). 

Some  of  the  congregations  were  organized  a  considerable  time 
before  they  were  reported  to  the  Presbytery.  A  large  part  of  them 
were^within  the  bounds  of  Ohio;  and  a  glance  at  the  Presbyterial 
connection  of  those  above  named  will  show  the  change  of  locality  in 
the  growth  of  the  Synod  for  the  first  twenty  years  of  the  century. 

45* 


534  HISTORY    OF    PRESBYTERIANISM. 

tuting  this  body  were  the  Presbyteries  of  Redstone, 
with  twenty-one  ministers  and  forty  congregations; 
Erie,  with  thirteen  ministers  and  forty-nine  congre- 
gations ;  Hartford,  with  ten  ministers  and  twenty -two 
congregations ;  Grand  Kiver,  with  twelve  ministers 
and  twenty-three  congregations ;  Portage,  with  nine 
ministers  and  thirty-three  congregations;  Washington, 
with  ten  ministers  and  nineteen  congregations ;  Steu- 
benville,  with  seven  ministers  and  twelve  congrega- 
tions; and  Ohio,  with  not  far  from  twelve  ministers 
and  eighteen  congregations, — making  an  aggregate  of 
about  ninety-four  ministers  and  two  hundred  and  six- 
teen congregations,  an  increase  in  eighteen  years  of 
nearly  three  hundred  per  cent,  in  the  ministry  and 
nearly  two  hundred  per  cent,  in  the  churches  on  this 
field. 

The  cause  of  learning  and  the  cause  of  missions 
were  not  neglected  by  the  Synod  of  Pittsburg  or  its 
constituent  Presbyteries.  The  Canonsburg  Academy 
— changed  to  Jefferson  College  in  1802,  contempo- 
raneously with  the  erection  of  the  Synod — was  for 
some  time  under  Presbyterial  supervision,  and  has 
ever  been  dependent  on  the  support  and  patronage, 
while  it  has  retained  the  sympathies,  of  the  Presby- 
terian Church.  The  school  at  Washington — subse- 
quently developed  into  Washington  College,  and  in 
some  respects  a  rival  to  the  one  at  Canonsburg — was 
yet  under  the  supervision  and  control  of  Presbyterians; 
while  the  first  President  of  Alleghany  College  at 
Meadville  was  Timothy  Alden,  a  member  of  the  Pres- 
bytery and  pastor  of  the  church. 

When  the  project  of  establishing  a  theological  semi- 
nary at  Princeton  was  adopted  by  the  Assembly,  it 
was  cordially  endorsed  by  the  Synod,  and  measures 
were  taken  to  secure  funds  to  aid  in  its  endowment. 
It  was  not  long,  however,  until  the  special  wants  of 


PENNSYLVANIA.    1800-1820.  535 

the  Western  field  became  obvious.  As  early  as  1819, 
the  plan  ©f  establishing  a  seminary  within  the  Synod's 
bounds  was  agitated.  It  was  confidently  anticipated 
that  a  union  of  Washington  and  Jefferson  Colleges 
might  be  effected,  and  the  buildings  of  the  former  se- 
cured for  the  Seminary.  Perhaps  in  anticipation  of 
this,  Dr.  McMillan  was  elected  Professor  of  Theology 
at  Canonsburg,  and  contributions  of  books  were  made 
with  a  view  to  secure  a  theological  library.  Upon  the 
failure  of  the  project,  it  was  proposed  to  unite  with  the 
Synods  of  Ohio  and  Kentucky  in  the  establishment  of 
an  institution;  but  the  discordant  views  of  the  local 
bodies  resulted  in  its  defeat,  and  the  Synod  of  Pitts- 
burg resolved  upon  the  establishment  of  the  Western 
Theological  Seminary  within  its  own  bounds. 

In  connection  with  the  organization  of  the  several 
local  missionary  societies  among  the  Eastern  churches 
at  the  close  of  the  last  and  the  commencement  of  the 
present  century,  a  warm  interest  was  excited  in  be- 
half of  the  aborigines  of  this  country.  Each  local 
society,  for  the  most  part,  with  its  other  fields  in  view, 
directed  particular  attention  to  the  Indian  tribes. 
The  General  Assembly,  in  drawing  up,  in  1800,  its  list 
of  objects  entitled  to  special  attention,  placed  at  the 
head  of  it,  and  in  precedence  of  plans  for  ministerial 
education,  "the  gospelizing  of  the  Indians  on  the 
frontiers  of  our  country."1  The  scheme  of  missionary 
effort  was  to  be  connected  with  a  plan  for  their  civil- 
ization, the  want  of  which  had  occasioned,  it  wTas  be- 
lieved, the  failure  of  former  efforts. 

The  Assembly"  could  not  readily  command  the 
means  for  carrying  its  scheme  into  execution ;  and 
the  Synod  of  Pittsburg  resolved  to  supply — to  some 
extent,  at  least — its  lack  of  service,  and  assume   the 

Minutes  of  Assembly  for  1801. 


536  HISTORY   OP    PRESBYTERIANISM. 

burden  itself.  With  a  vast  region  around  it,  rapidly 
filling  up  with  immigrants,  and  with  calls  from  new 
communities  and  feeble  churches  which  might  have 
absorbed  all  its  energies,  it  still  looked  to  the  regions 
beyond,  and  determined,  carrying  out  the  plan  already 
initiated  by  the  Synod  of  Virginia,  to  prosecute  at 
the  same  time  its  mission  to  the  white  population  of 
the  Northwest  and  its  mission  to  the  Indian  tribes. 

The  measures  taken  to  execute  the  latter  project 
gave  nattering  promise  of  success.1  The  Wyandotte 
Indians,  in  the  neighborhood  of  Sandusky,  seemed  pre- 
pared to  welcome  missionaries  whose  efforts  should  be 
directed  at  the  same  time  toward  their  religious  in- 
struction and  the  introduction  among  them  of  the  arts 
of  civilized  life.  They  were  repeatedly  visited  by 
members  of  the  Synod,  who  remained  with  them  for  a 
brief  period;  but  in  the  summer  of  1805 2  the  Synod 
sent  out  three  missionaries,  who  remained  among  them 
"  for  two  months  or  more,"  and  were  well  received. 
The  necessity,  however,  of  a  permanent  mission,  de- 
manded that  some  one  should  be  located  and  resident 
among  them;  and  Joseph  Badger  was  employed  by  the 
Synod  for  this  purpose.  He  arrived  at  the  settlements 
of  the  Indians  in  May,  1806,3  and  met  with  a  hospitable 
reception. 

1  This  statement  is  not  intended  to  apply  to  the  earliest  efforts  of 
the  Synod.  At  the  very  session  during  which  the  society  was 
formed,  Joseph  Patterson  was  appointed  to  visit  the  Shawanese  In- 
dians and  to  continue  among  them  for  five  months;  and  Alexander 
Cook,  a  licentiate  of  the  Presbytery  of  Ohio,  was  to  visit  and  labor 
among  them  at  Sandusky  for  the  same  period.  Both  visited  their 
respective  fields;  but  the  reception  they  met  was  not  what  they 
expected,  and  both  returned  in  less  than  two  months.  The  Synod, 
however,  did  not  abandon  their  project.  Subsequent  visits  of  the 
missionaries  were  better  appreciated  by  the  Indians. 

2  Minutes  of  1806. 

3  Appendix  to  Minute*  of  1807.     Elliott's  Life  of  Macurdy. 


PENNSYLVANIA,   1800-1820.  537 

The  plan  proposed  was  to  combine  religious  in- 
struction with  initiation  into  the  arts  of  civilized  life. 
Especial  attention  was  to  be  given  to  agriculture,  to 
order  that  the  Indians  might  be  induced  to  adopt  a 
settled  mode  of  life  and  industrious  habits.  For  this 
purpose,  Mr.  Badger  was  accompanied  by  three  laborers, 
who  were  to  give  practical  instruction  to  the  Indians, 
to  aid  them  in  fencing,  ploughing,  raising  corn  and 
other  kinds  of  grain,  as  well  as  to  assist  them  in  erect- 
iifg  comfortable  dwellings.  A  missionary  farm  was  to 
be  cultivated  as  a  model  for  native  imitation.  From 
the  beef,  pork,  corn,  and  vegetables  that  might  be 
produced,  the  missionary  family  was  to  be  supplied; 
while  the  Indian  children  were  to  be  fed,  lodged,  and 
clothed  at  the  expense  of  the  society. 

The  plan  was  carried  out  to  a  considerable  extent, 
although  opposed  by  the  Indian  traders.  A  small 
dwelling-house  and  a  school-house  were  erected  upon 
the  Reserve,  opposite  the  Indian  village  at  the  lower 
rapids  of  Sandusky.  The  mission  was  furnished  with 
a  team  of  two  horses,  two  yoke  of  oxen,  ploughs, 
chains,  &c.  The  Rev.  Joseph  McLean,  sent  by  the 
Board  of  Trust  to  assist  the  mission,  procured  some 
live  stock  on  the  Scioto — mainly  through  the  liberality 
of  the  people  of  that  region — and  conve}Ted  them  to 
Sandusky.  Fields  were  laid  out  and  fenced  and  put 
under  cultivation,  and  several  of  the  Indians  began  to 
devote  themselves  to  agricultural  pursuits.  In  the 
course  of  one  or  two  years,  twenty  acres  of  ground 
were  fenced.  Crops  of  corn,  oats,  flax,  turnips,  and 
potatoes,  as  well  as  many  garden-Vegetables,  were  pro- 
duced. In  the  fall  of  1809  the  missionary  stock  on  the 
farm  numbered  twenty-six  head  of  cattle.  Intoxica- 
tion was  utterly  unknown  among  the  Indians  who 
had  been  brought  under  missionary  influence;  many 
of  the  natives  had  been  induced  to   attend  regularly 


538  HISTORY    OF    mESBYTERIANISM. 

upon  the  preaching  of  the  gospel,  and  several  gave 
good  evidence  of  genuine  conversion.1 

But  the  mission  had  many  obstacles  to  encounter. 
There  were  no  mills  to  grind  the  grain,  and  the  Indians 
had  to  pound  it  in  a  large  mortar.  .  Farming-tools 
could  be  procured  only  with  great  difficulty.  Plough- 
irons  and  other  kinds  of  smith-work  could  not  be  pro- 
cured within  a  distance  of  one  hundred  miles.  In  these 
circumstances,  Mr.  Badger  determined  to  see  what  could 
be  done  at  the  East  in  aid  of  the  cause. 

In  November,  1808,  he  set  out  for  New  England.  He 
told  the  story  of  what  he  had  attempted,  what  he  had 
accomplished,  and  what  he  designed  to  do.  At  Boston 
and  in  the  vicinity  he  raised  over  one  thousand  dollars 
in  behalf  of  his  mission.  Returning  to  his  field  of  labor, 
he  devoted  himself  anew  to  his  work.  But  domestic 
afflictions — first  the  death  of  a  daughter,  and  then  the 
loss  by  fire  of  the  dwelling  occupied  by  his  family — 
called  him  back  repeatedly  to  the  Reserve.  Discou- 
ragement thus  followed  discouragement;  and  finally, 
in  1810,  he  abandoned  the  mission,  and  removed  with 
his  family  to  Ashtabula,  where  he  labored  for  many 
years  as  a  settled  pastor. 

The  Synod,  however,  did  not  relinquish  its  purpose  to 
prosecute  the  mission.  Quite  a  number  of  its  members 
had  repeatedly  visited  it,  and  took  the  deepest  interest 
in  its  continuance  and  success.  From  1805,  the  Synod 
applied  for,  and  received  from  the  Assembly,  the  sum 
of  from  one  hundred  to  five  hundred  dollars  annually, 
to  enable  them  to  sustain  it.  The  mission  continued, 
in  a  hopeful  state,  till  the  War  of  1812,  when,  the  build- 
ings having  been  burned  and  the  improvements  de- 
stroyed by  the  enemy,  it  was  suspended.2 

i  Conn.  Ev.  Mag.,  April,  1809. 

2  It  is  said  that  through  Mr.  Badger's  influence  the  Indians  -were 
kept  from  joining  the  enemy  during  the  war. — Green's  Pres.  Mis. 


PENNSYLVANIA,    1800-1820.  539 

Few  missions,  even  to  heathen  tribes,  have  ever  been 
conducted  under  more  discouraging  circumstances  than 

this  mission  to  the  Indians  about  Sandusky.  Th<  ir 
condition  in  almost  every  respect  was  most  pitiable 
and  degraded.  They  were  contaminated  by  the  white 
man's  vices,  while  their  own  superstitions  were  b}^  no 
means  weakened  by  contact  with  such  civilization  as 
they  witnessed  in  the  Indian  traders. 

Mr.  Macurdy,  during  Mr.  Badger's  absence  in  New 
England,  took  the  sole  charge  of  the  mission  for 
several  months;  and  his  journal  unfolds  to  view  a 
scene  of  degradation  which  would  have  put  to  flight 
in  a  moment  the  brilliant  fancies  of  Rousseau.  "  Their 
houses,"  he  says,  "  when  they  have  any,  are  wretched 
huts,  almost  as  dirty  as  they  can  be,  and  swarming 
with  fleas  and  lice;  their  furniture,  a  few  barks,  a  tin 
or  brass  kettle,  a  gun,  pipe,  and  tomahawk.  Such  is 
their  ingratitude  that  whilst  you  load  them  with  favors 
they  will  reproach  you  to  the  face,  and  construe  your 
benevolent  intentions  and  actions  into  intentional  fraud 
or  real  injury.  They  will  lie  in  the  most  deliberate 
manner,  and  to  answer  any  selfish  purpose/' 

Even  this  picture  Mr.  Macurdy  pronounces  far  short 
of  the  reality.  Among  such  a  people  must  the  mission- 
ary live.  The  dangers,  difficulties,  and  perplexities  of 
such  a  life  must  be  his  daily  experience.  Surrounded 
with  them  he  lies  down  to  sleep,  oppressed  by  them 
he  seeks  repose,  confronted  by  them  he  goes  forth  to 
his  daily  task,  without  an  earthly  friend  to  give  him 
counsel,  to  share  his  burden,  or  to  listen  to  his  griefs. 
Well  might  he  say,  "No  honor  or  emolument  that 
this  world  can  confer  can  compensate  a  man  for  the 
sacrifices  he  must  make  and  the  trials  he  must  endure" 
in  such  a  lot. 

Yet  among  these  Indians  the  results  attained  seemed 
to  encourage  a  renewal  of  the  mission  at  the  close  of 


540  HISTORY    OF    PRESBYTERIANISM. 

the  war.  In  1818,  it  was  determined  to  resume  the 
work  among  the  Ottawas,  on  the  Maumee  Eiver.  But 
difficulties  intervened,  and  the  work  was  not  prose- 
cuted till  1822.  A  few  years  later,  after  a  mission 
had  been  established,  and  afforded  good  hopes  of  suc- 
cess, it  was  transferred  to  the  care  of  the  American 
Board. 

Meanwhile,  a  mission  had  been  planned  to  "  the  In- 
dians in  and  about  Lewistown."1  James  Hughes,  in 
1814,  resigned  his  pastoral  charge  of  Short  Creek  and 
Lower  Buffalo,  in  order  to  prosecute  it.  For  three 
years  he  continued  to  labor  at  Urbana  (Ohio)  as  mis- 
sionary and  stated  supply,  receiving  annually  from  the 
Assembly  four  hundred  dollars  toward  the  support  of 
the  mission. 

The  sympathy  of  the  Synod  not  only  for  the  cause 
of  missions,  but  in  behalf  of  ministerial  education, 
tract-distribution,  Sunday-schools,  colonization,  tempe- 
rance, Sabbath-observance,  and  the  monthly  concert, 
as  well  as  sound  doctrine,  is  sufficiently  attested  by  its 
records.  To  promote  its  objects,  a  magazine  was  es- 
tablished (in  1803),  of  which  Messrs.  McMillan,  Moore, 
and  Anderson  were  managing  editors,  and  the  profits 
of  which,  paid  into  the  treasury  of  the  Synod's  Board 
of  Missions  in  1807,  amounted  to  over  three  hundred 
dollars.  Upon  the  failure  of  the  enterprise,  no  further 
effort  seems  to  have  been  made  to  sustain  a  religious 
periodical  till  1821,  soon  after  which  the  "Pittsburg 
.Recorder"  was  established,  succeeded,  however,  a  few 
years  later,  by  the  "Spectator"  and  the  "Christian 
Herald." 

The  powerful  revival  enjoyed  by  the  churches  under 

1  The  mission  at  Lewistown  seems  to  have  been  abandoned  on 
Mr.  Hughes's  acceptance  of  an  invitation  to  take  charge  of  Miami 
University,  in  1818. 


1808   1820.  5  I  1 

the  cure  of  the  Presbytery  of  Ohio,1  during  this  period, 
commenced  under  the  labors  of  Rev.  Elisha  Macurdy, 
at  Three  Springs,  where  lie  was  settled  as  pastor. 
For  some  months  previous  the  church  had  not  been 
without  signs  of  the  divine  favor;  but  on  the  last  Sal>- 
bath  in  September,  1802,  in  eonnection  with  a  sacra- 
mental season,  the  work  began  in  earnest.  On  Mon- 
day evening  the  meeting  should  have  been  dismissed; 
but  those  who  were  assembled  were  unwilling  to  leave 
the  ground.  They  remained  together  all  night,  and 
until  near  noon  the  next  day.  Some  of  the  features 
which  had  characterized  the  revivals  in  Kentucky, 
Tennessee,  and  the  Carol inas,  were  witnessed  here. 
H umbers  sank  down  in  their  distress,  and  gave  evi- 
dence of  great  concern  and  anguish  of  spirit.  Five 
or  six  were  supposed  to  have  found  peace  before  the 
close  of  the  meeting. 

Two  weeks  later,  a  sacramental  season  was  observed 
by  the  church  at  lvaccoon,  under  the  charge  of  Mr. 
Patterson.  The  occasion  was  deeply  solemn.  Bold 
and  hardened  sinners  were  awakened  and  reduced  to 
deep  distress.  Such  was  the  state  of  things  that  it 
was  determined  to  appoint  the  last  Sabbath  in  October 
for  an  extra  meeting  and  communion. 

On  this  occasion  a  great  multitude  was  on  the 
ground.  Families  came  in  wagons,  bringing  their  pro- 
visions with  them.  The  meeting  was  at  the  Cross- 
Eoads, — another  station  where  Mr.  Macurdy  labored. 
Ten  ordained  ministers  and  four  licentiates  were  pre- 
sent. Between  seven  and  eight  hundred  communed; 
and  the  exercises,  which  commenced  on  Saturday,  con- 
tinued till  Tuesday  morning, — by  night  as  well  as  by 

i  Conn.  Ev.  Mag.,  Feb.  1803,  letter  of  Rev.  James  Hughes,  West 
Liberty,  Short  Creek,  Ohio  county,  Va.  Quite  an  extended  account 
of  the  revival  is  given  in  Elliott's  Life  of  Macurdy. 

Vol.  I.— 46 


542  HISTORY    OF    PRESBYTERIANISM. 

day.  The  cries  and  groans  of  the  distressed  were 
almost  incessant.  Sometimes,  indeed,  the  speaker  was 
interrupted  by  them  in  his  discourse.  The  number 
under  conviction  continued  steadily  to  increase.  On 
Monday,  sermons  were  preached  at  the  same  time 
in  three  different  places,  sufficiently  remote  from  each 
other  to  avoid  mutual  disturbance, — one  of  them  in  the 
meeting-house. 

But,  as  the  assemblages  were  preparing  to  disperse, 
the  joy  of  those  who  had  been  converted  found  ex- 
pression in  acclamations  and  songs  of  praise.  Strangely 
mingling  with  the  groans  and  cries  of  distress  from 
others,  they  added  a  new  feature  to  the  "  solemn,  awful, 
and  pleasing  scene."  "  Some  very  young  were  enabled 
to  speak,  recommending  Christ,  and  inviting  and  warn- 
ing sinners,  in  a  manner  truly  astonishing."  1 

Another  extra  meeting  was  appointed  for  the  fol- 

1  In  a  letter  to  the  "New  York  Missionary  Magazine"  for  1802,  the 
writer  mentions  other  features  of  this  occasion,  not  contained  in  the 
narrative  from  which  the  above  statements  are  derived.  He  says, 
"On  the  Sabbath  and  Monday  after  the  sacrament,  not  less  than 
fifty  were  sometimes  lying  at  once,  crying  for  mercy,  complaining  of 
the  hardness  of  their  hearts,  and  pleading  for  pardon.  They  met 
every  day  or  night — and  frequently  both — all  that  week.  They 
remained  in  church  all  Sabbath  night :  some  suppose  sixty,  others 
a  hundred,  were  lying  at  once  :  the  ministers  exhorted  and  prayed 
alternately  most  of  the  night.  Every  age  and  sex  are  the  subjects 
of  this  work,  Christians  and  ministers  not  excepted.  Many  of  them 
fall  instantaneously,  without  discovering  the  least  symptoms  before; 
some  appear  affected,  and  after  some  time  fall ;  others  lie  down  and 
become  helpless;  some  weep,  some  sigh  and  groan,  others  scream 
out  violently;  some  fall  but  once,  some  a  number  of  times;  one 
has  fallen  five  times,  and  yet  received  no  comfort ;  some  get  ease  in 
an  hour,  and  speak  to  those  around  them  in  an  astonishing  manner. 
.  .  .  The  ministers  say  they  are  ashamed  to  speak  after  them.  A 
very  wild  young  man  ridiculed  the  work,  went  away,  shortly  re- 
turned, fell  instantaneously,  lay  there  hours,  got  ease,  and  spoke 
about  three  hours  or  more  icith  power  and  eloquence  almost  divine." 


PENNSYLVANIA,    1800-1820.  543 

lowing  Sabbath  at  Upper  Buffalo  congregation,  of 
which  John  Anderson  was  pastor, — "a  very  central 
place," — to  accommodate  the  multitude  who  were  ex- 
pected to  attend.  The  number  present  was  estimated 
at  "not  less  than  ten  thousand."  Twelve  ministers 
attended.  The  exercises  were  prolonged  as  before,  and 
from  first  to  last  as  many  as  two  thousand  were  "  af- 
fected." "  The  distressed,"  of  whom  there  were  several 
hundred  at  the  same  time,  "  appeared  to  have  awful 
apprehensions  of  their  sins.  Their  cries,  generally, 
were,  Oh !  my  sins !  Oh  !  my  hard  heart !  Oh !  what 
shall  I  do  for  Christ  ?  O  Jesus,  take  away  my  hard 
heart." 

On  the  first  of  these  occasions,  before  any  precedent 
had  been  afforded  by  any  churches  in  this  region  of 
country,  the  "  bodily  exercises"  commenced.  There 
were  "  such  scenes  of  distress  as  exceeded  any  de- 
scription." There  were  about  fifty  persons  whose 
bodily  strength  was  so  far  overcome  that  they  were 
unable  to  stand  without  support.  On  the  next  oc- 
casion, the  exercises  of  the  first  day  of  the  meeting 
continued  for  "about  four  hours  and  a  half,  without 
intermission."  During  the  day  they  were  held  in  the 
open  air,  and  in  the  evening  a  third  service  was  held 
in  the  church,  which  was  crowded  to  its  full  capacity. 
Numbers  fell,  crying  out  in  distress  and  anguish. 

On  this  occasion,  Joseph  Badger,  of  the  Western  Ee- 
serve,  who  had  just  returned  from  the  meeting  of  the 
Synod  of  Pittsburg,  was  present.  He  noticed  those 
who  fell,  and  states  that  "  they  very  nearly  resembled 
persons  who  had  just  expired  from  a  state  of  full 
strength.  For  a  considerable  time,  pulsation  could  not 
be  perceived.  Their  limbs  were  wholly  unstrung,  and 
respiration  was  scarcely  perceptible:  yet  they  retained 
their  reason,  and  knew  what  was  said  within  their 
hearing."     Gradually,  their   strength    returned;   they 


544  HISTORY    OF    PRESBYTERIANI6M. 

opened  their  eyes  and  looked  around  them,  Lut  spoke 
in  a  low  and  feeble  voice.  When  asked  the  occasion 
of  their  distress,  they  said  it  was  the  apprehension  they 
had  of  the  sinfulness  of  their  sins,  as  committed  against 
a  holy  God,  and  their  soul-destroying  nature.  Their 
views  of  their  own  guilt  were  scriptural,  and  their  sal- 
vation, they  confessed,  must  be  of  sovereign  grace. 
Five  ministers  and  five  hundred  people  continued  in 
the  meeting-house  all  night;  and  yet,  except  for  the 
interruption  produced  by  sighs  and  tears,  there  was 
nothing  in  the  scenes  disorderly  or  unbecoming. 

The  revival  extended  to  other  congregations.1  The 
ministers  who  attended  on  these  occasions  returned 
from  them  to  find  their  own  people  more  anxious  to 
hear  the  gospel.  In  the  course  of  a  year  from  the 
commencement  of  the  work,  it  had  extended  over  the 
whole  region  covered  by  the  Synod  of  Pittsburg ;  and 
of  the  eighty  or  ninety  congregations  under  its  care, 
there  were  not  more  than  five  or  six  which  had  not 
been  more  or  less  affected.2  The  Eev.  Thomas  Bobbins, 
sent  out  by  the  Connecticut  Society  to  the  Western 

1  By  the  close  of  December  the  work  had  spread  from  Mr. 
Macurdy's  congregation  to  those  of  Messrs.  McMillan,  Patterson, 
Marquis,  Anderson,  Ralston,  Gavin,  and  Moore.  In  November, 
forty  persons  were  received  into  Mr.  Macurdy's  church,  the  young- 
est twelve  years  of  age,  the  oldest  over  one  hundred. — New  York 
Miss.  Mag.  iv.  113. 

2  Connecticut  Ev.  Mag.,  1804,  letter  of  Mr.  Robbins.  At  Valley 
Mills,  in  Luzerne  county,  a  revival  commenced  soon  after  the  re- 
markable scenes  in  Ohio  Presbytery  had  occurred.  The  writer  of  a 
letter  to  the  "New  York  Missionary  Magazine,"  under  date  of  Febru- 
ary 23,  1803,  says,  "The  two  weeks  past  I  would  not  exchange  for 
a  former  seven  years."  "  We  find  no  difficulty  now  in  getting  people 
to  meeting:  the  want  is  room  to  contain  them.  Many  stout-hearted 
sinners  are  unexpectedly  bowed  down  in  tears  to  the  earth.  On 
Thursday  evening,  at  my  house,  fifteen  of  this  description  came 
forward.". 


PENNSYLVANIA,    1800-1820.  545 

Reserve,  was  arrested  on  his  way  by  the  interest  ex- 
cited by  these  scenes  of  revival,  so  unlike  any  thing  that 
had  been  experienced  east  of  the  Alleghanies.  Yet  ho 
testifies  freely  to  the  genuineness  of  the  work.  "  I 
conceive  it,"  he  says,  "  in  many  respects  to  resemble 
the  revival  of  religion  in  New  England  in  1740-1742. 
In  extent  of  territory  it  exceeds  that.  In  its  diffusion 
to  almost  every  town  and  society  it  also  exceeds  that. 
With  respect  to  the  number  of  subjects  in  the  several 
societies  where  the  work  is,  I  believe  the  present 
hardly  equals  the  former.  The  opposition,  the  ridicule 
and  reproach,  which  the  present  wTork  receives,  is  not 
less  than  did  the  work  of  the  same  Spirit  sixty  years 
ago.  The  only  difference  is,  opposition  is  not  now  con- 
ducted with  the  same  external  violence,  it  not  being 
the  custom  of  the  day.  The  manner  of  the  minister's 
preaching  is  also  much  as  it  was  then, — Calvinistic  in 
sentiment,  serious,  earnest,  and  pathetic.  The  state  of 
society  in  these  back-countries  is  in  some  respects 
similar  to  what  it  then  wras  in  New  England.  In  the 
general  attention  and  commotion  which  is  produced 
among  all  classes  of  people,  the  two  cases  are  quite 
similar.  If  there  were  any  excesses  among  ministers 
who  were  great  instruments  in  that  work,  it  was 
doubtless  owing  to  the  violent  opposition  they  expe- 
rienced. In  the  present  revival  I  have  not  known  any 
thing  of  the  kind.  But  they  appear  to  conduct  with 
great  moderation  and  propriety.  People  at  a  distance 
may  say  what  they  will,  but,  when  they  come  to  be 
eye-witnesses,  every  reasonable  man  is  effectually  re- 
strained from  declaring  it  to  be  any  thing  but  the 
mighty  power  of  God."1 

1  The  report  of  the  revivals  in  Western  Pennsylvania  did  not 
meet  with  a  very  approving  reception  from  some  of  the  ministers  in 
the  region  of  Philadelphia,  especially  those  who  retained  the  tra- 
ditions and  prejudices  of  the  Old  Side.     Patterson,  of  Philadelphia, 


546  HISTORY    OF   PRESBYTERIANISM. 

He  freely  admitted  that  the  work  was  "  in  many  re- 
spects mysterious  and  extraordinary. "  Some  things 
about  it  "could  not  be  understood."  "But  there  are 
things  to  be  seen  which  are  not  to  be  described.  After 
all  that  could  be  told  or  written,  your  conceptions 
would  be  far  short  of  the  reality,  or  of  what  they 
would  be  if  you  could  be  an  eye-witness." 

The  bodily  exercises,  as  they  came  under  his  observa- 
tion, extended  to  most  of  those  who  were  the  subjects 
of  the  work.  From  two-thirds  to  three-quarters  fell 
when  under  the  force  of  their  convictions.  But  others, 
of  the  genuineness  of  whose  conversion  none  could 
doubt,  were  not  thus  affected.  Those  who  fell  usually 
did  so  repeatedly.  Even  after  they  had  attained  a 
Christian  hope,  they  continued  to  fall.  Persons  who 
had  long  been  members  of  the  Church,  and  even  minis- 
ters in  some  instances,  were  similarly  affected.  Elders 
of  the  churches,  serious  men,  the  aged  and  middle-aged, 
as  well  as  the  young,  were  among  the  number. 

The  falling  took  place,  likewise,  on  all  occasions, — 
most  generally,  however,  at  the  public  meetings.  Yet 
instances  occurred  at  family  prayer,  in  solitude,  and 
even  "  in  merry  company,"  or  during  the  prosecution 
of  ordinary  business. 

The  degrees  of  bodily  affection  were  quite  various, 
although  all  alike  were  described  as  falling.  Yet 
there  was    every   grade  of  agitation,   from   the   least 

says,  "In  1805,  Marquis  and  Macurdy  were  commissioners  from 
the  Ohio  Presbytery.  I  saw  them  when  they  returned  home,  and 
heard  them  tell  what  a  time  they  had  in  the  Assembly  about  those 
revivals,  and  how  furiously  some  of  the  ministers  in  this  region  did 
oppose  them.  And  they  remarked,  that  if  there  had  not  been  some 
little  yielding  and  paring  down,  so  as  to  unite,  as  there  was  toward 
the  last  in  the  Assembly,  they  never  would  have  seen  the  ministers 
west  of  the  Alleghany  Mountains  in  the  Assembly  again.'* — Pat- 
tersons Pamphlet,  1836. 


PENNSYLVANIA,  1800-1820.  547 

nervous  to  the  most  violent,  or  even  " to  a  deatb-liko 
weakness  and  inaction."  Some  could  sit  who  could 
not  stand.  Some  could  sit  when  in  part  supported, 
who  could  not  otherwise.  Some,  however,  needed  to 
be  held  "  as  much  as  infants,"  some  as  much  "  as 
persons  in  high  convulsions."  "Nervous  affections 
and  convulsions"  were  more  frequent  than  a  loss  of 
strength  and  animal  powers.  In  the  latter  case  the 
subject  was  silent;  in  the  former  he  sighed,  or  sobbed 
and  groaned,  in  proportion  to  the  degree  in  which  he 
was  affected. 

The  duration  of  the  "  exercises"  was  various, — in 
some  cases  only  for  a  few  minutes,  in  others  for  hours, 
and  sometimes  for  days.  Yet  no  after-inconvenience 
was  occasioned  by  it.  Though  apparently  deeply  dis- 
tressed, they  experienced  no  bodily  pain.  Rarely  was 
any  one  sensible  of  any  injury  received  through  his 
fall,  either  at  the  time  or  afterward. 

One  feature  in  the  experience  of  those  affected  is 
especially  noted.  "  They  never  lost  their  senses." 
Their  minds  appeared,  indeed,  to  be  then  more  active 
than  ever,  and  all  their  powers  "intent  upon  the 
things  of  religion  and  the  interests  of  eternity."  Their 
perceptions  were  remarkably  clear,  and  their  memories 
uncommonly  retentive.  Many  would  speak  "in  broken 
accents  and  half  expressions,"  begging  for  mercy,  de- 
precating wrath,  groaning  under  sin,  calling  upon  perish- 
ing sinners,  or  giving  glory  to  God. 

When  they  recovered,  the  impulse  to  speak  seemed 
irresistible.  Some  would  speak  for  quite  a  time,  and 
"speak  to  admiration."  "It  seems,"  says  Mr.  Eobbins, 
"almost — not  from  the  manner,  but  from  the  truths 
they  utter — as  if  they  had  been  to  the  invisible  world." 

Yet  the  people  were  carefully  instructed  that  there 
was  no  religion  in  the  mere  falling,  or  in  the  bodily 


548  HISTORY    OF    PRESBYTERIANISM. 

exercises.  Against  this  idea  they  were  repeatedly 
put  upon  their  guard.  It  received  no  encouragement 
from  the  ministers;  and  even  among  those  who  had 
ridiculed  the  phenomena,  who  had  pronounced  them 
delusions  or  mere  excitement,  some  were  affected. 
That  the  work  was  genuine,  and  that  it  could  not  be 
explained  on  any  known  principles,  all  alike,  friends 
and  foes  of  the  revival,  were  finally  agreed.1  The 
witness,  fully  competent,  whose  testimony  has  been 
so  freely  adduced,  closes  his  observations  with  the 
remark,  "1  firmly  believe  this  to  be  a  conspicuous  and 
glorious  work  of  divine  grace,  and  that  thousands  of 

1  One  gentleman  who  attended  upon  one  of  the  sacramental  oc- 
casions declared  to  the  ministers  and  others  that  he  could  account 
for  all  the  extraordinary  exercises  by  his  medical  skill  and  on  phi- 
losophical principles.  He  said  none  but  weak  women  and  persons 
of  weak  nerves  were  made  to  fall;  but  if  some  stout,  healthy, 
brawny-built  man  should  fall,  he  should  think  it  something  above 
human  art.  It  was  so  ordered  that  he  had  the  most  fair  trial. 
Some  time  in  the  meeting,  he  found  himself  alarmed  from  his  se- 
curity, and,  instead  of  philosophizing  on  others,  was  constrained  to 
attend  to  his  own  soul.  His  strength  was  so  far  gone  that  he  could 
not  rise ;  and  he  asked  help  to  be  carried  out.  But  when  beyond 
hearing  of  the  preacher,  "Oh,  carry  me  back!"  he  called  out: 
"  God  is  here :  I  cannot  get  away  from  God.  I  know  now  that  I  am 
in  God's  hands  :  this  is  God's  work."  Subsequently,  when  others 
came  to  speak  with  him,  he  said,  "Oh,  I  have  lived  forty-seven  years 
an  enemy  to  God.  I  have  been  in  some  of  the  hottest  battles,  and 
never  knew  what  it  was  to  have  my  heart  palpitate  with  fear ;  but 
now  I  am  all  unstrung.  I  have  cut  off  limbs  with  a  steady  hand; 
and  now  I  cannot  hold  this  hand  still  if  I  might  have  a  world.  I 
know  this  is  not  the  work  of  men.  I  feel  that  I  am  in  God's  hands, 
and  that  he  will  do  with  me  just  what  he  pleases."  Mr.  Badger 
met  this  man  a  few  weeks  later,  when  he  said  to  him  that  "he 
thought  at  some  times  he  could  see  a  little  how  God  could  save, 
through  Jesus  Christ,  such  a  sinner  as  he  was;  but  most  of  the  time 
he  was  in  total  darkness." — Conn.  Ev.  Mag.,  Sept.  1804. 


PENNSYLVANIA,    1800-1820.  549 

immortal  souls,  the  Bubjects  <>f  it,  will  adore  the  riches 
of  divine  mercy  through  eternity."1 

It  was  during  the  first  weeks,  the  opening  scenes,  of 
this  powerful  revival,  that  the  Synod  of  Pittsburg  met 
at  Pittsburg  and  organized  themselves  (October,  1802) 
into  the  Western  Missionary  Society.  The  field  which 
they  felt  called  to  occupy  was  suddenly  expanded,  and 
emphatically — beyond  all  that  they  could  have  anti- 
cipated— was  white  for  the  harvest.  The  laborers 
already  employed  were  tasked  almost  beyond  measure; 
and  yet  they  flagged  not  in  their  efforts.  Others  were 
needed  to  aid  them;  and  not  a  few — as  the  result  of 
this  revival  and  the  efforts  of  the  Synod — wTere  brought 
forward  to  their  aid.  The  excesses  of  the  revival — if 
indeed  they  can  be  so  termed — passed  away,  and  ere 
long  were  wellnigh  forgotten,  overshadowed,  at  least, 
by  the  more  remarkable  phenomena  of  the  Kentucky 
revival;  but  the  results  that  followed  have  their  lasting 
monuments  in  the  churches  scattered  over  the  broad 
region  swept  by  the  revival. 

1  As  to  the  leading  features  of  the  work,  the  testimony  of  Rev.  Mr. 
Badger  (Conn.  Ev.  Mag.,  Sept.  1803)  is  coincident  with  that  of  Mr. 
Robbins.  In  speaking  of  the  impression  made  upon  his  own  mind 
while  participating  in  one  of  the  large  gatherings  during  the 
revival,  Mr.  Badger  says,  "The  sweet  and  lovely  frame  Christians 
appeared  to  be  in,  the  meekness  and  humbleness  of  mind,  exceeded 
any  thing  I  ever  saw  before.  It  helped  me  to  get  some  faint  ideas 
of  what  the  saints  will  enjoy  when  they  come  to  see  the  King  in 
his  beauty  and  be  present  at  his  table  without  sin  or  flesh  to  in- 
tercept their  sight." 


550  IIISTCiiY    OF    ritESBYTERIANISM. 


CHAPTEE  XXIII. 

NEW    JERSEY,    1S00-1820. 

In  1800,  there  were  in  connection  with  the  Presby- 
terian Church  in  New  Jersey,  and  under  the  care  of 
the  two  Presbyteries  of  New  York  and  New  Bruns- 
wick,1— which  covered  the  field, — thirty-two  ministers, 
twenty-seven  of  whom  had  pastoral  charges,  while 
there  were  also  thirteen  vacancies.  The  number  of  all 
the  Presbyterian  churches  in  the  State  was,  thus,  but 
about  forty. 

During  the  first  twenty  years  of  the  present  century, 
there  was  a  steady  and  healthful  growth.  In  1809,  the 
Presbytery  of  New  York  was  divided  j  and  from  the 
portion  of  it  lying  within  the  bounds  of  New  Jersey 
the  Jersey  Presbytery  was  erected.  In  1817,  the  Pres- 
bytery of  New  Brunswick  was  likewise  divided,  in 
order  to  form  the  Presbytery  of  Newton.  In  1820, 
there  were  thus  within  the  bounds  of  the  State  the 
three  Presbyteries  of  Jersey,  New  Brunswick,  and 
Newton.  The  thirty-two  ministers  of  1800  had  in- 
creased to  fifty-four,  the  twenty-seven  pastors  to  forty- 
three;  while  the  churches  had  advanced  from  about 
forty  to  sixty-seven,  or  at  the  rate  of  about  seventy 
per  cent. 

The  Presbytery  of  Jersey  embraced  the  churches  in' 
the  northern  part  of  the  State.     The  First  Church  of 
Newark,  through  the  influence  of  the  great- revival  of 
1807-08,  and  under  the  labors  of  Dr.  Griffin,  received 

1  Other  churches  were  connected  with  Presbyteries  of  other 
States. 


NEW    JERSEY,    1SUO-1820.  551 

large  accessions, — ninety-seven  on  a  single  occasion,  and 
one  hundred  and  seventy-four  in  a  period  of  six  months. 
A  membership  of  two  hundred  and  two  was  in  the 
course  of  eight  years  increased  to  five  hundred  and 
twenty-two,  and  the  result  was  that,  shortly  after 
Dr.  Griffin's  removal  to  the  Park  Street  Church  in  Bos- 
ton, a  Second  Church  was  formed.1  In  1815,  this  church, 
then  vacant,  extended  a  call  to  Dr.  Griffin,  which  he 
felt  it  his  duty  to  accept, — the  First  Church,  meanwhile 
having  enj'03'ed  the  pastoral  labors  of  Dr.  James  Eich- 
ards. 

Among  the  distinguished  ministers  of  the  age,  Dr. 
Edward  Dorr  Griffin  occupied  the  foremost  rank.  Na- 
ture had  been  munificent  in  the  gifts  which  she  had 
lavished  upon  him.  His  large  and  well-proportioned 
frame  and  commanding  presence  impressed  the  be- 
holder at  a  glance;  and  his  intellectual  endowments 
were  in  keeping  with  his  person.  A  native  of  Con- 
necticut, and  a  graduate  of  Yale  College  in  1790,  he 
pursued  his  theological  studies  under  the  younger 
Edwards,  and  for  several  years  after  his  licensure 
preached  in  diiferent  places  in  his  native  State,  until 
his  call  to  New  Hartford  in  1795.  A  revival  of  consider- 
able power  followed  almost  immediately  upon  his  settle- 
ment; and  three  years  later,  one  still  more  remarkable 
attested  and  crowned  his  fidelity  to  his  work. 

In  1801,  he  was  called  to  Newark,  as  the  colleague  of 
Dr.  McWhorter.  Here  he  remained  for  eight  years, 
and  for  the  last  two  or  three  his  church  enjoyed  an 
almost  continuous  revival.     Such  was    his   reputation 

1  The  churches  of  Newark  date  as  follows  : — Second,  1810  ;  Third, 
1824;  Fourth  (of  short  duration),  1831;  African  Presbyterian, 
1831;  Free  Church  (since  Congregational),  1837;  Central  Presby- 
terian, 1837;  Park  Presbyterian,  Sixth  Presbyterian,  and  High 
Street  Presbyterian,  1848;  German  Presbyterian,  1852;  South 
Park  Presbyterian,  1853. 


552  HISTORY    OP    PRESBYTERIANISM. 

that  he  was  called  first  to  a  professorship  in  Andover 
Seminary,  and  subsequently  to  the  pastoral  charge  of 
the  Park  Street  Church  in  Boston.  He  had  already 
entered  upon  the  duties  of  his  professorship  when  the 
claims  of  the  Park  Street  Church  were  pressed  upon 
his  attention.  But  the  post  of  a  defender  of  the  faith 
in  a  city  which  had  become  the  stronghold  of  Uni- 
tarianism  was  one  which,  with  all  its  responsibilities 
and  difficulties,  did  not  long  allow  him  to  hesitate.  In 
the  capital  of  New  England,  where  evangelical  truth 
had  become  unpopular  and  odious,  and  where  intellect- 
ual culture  and  social  respectability  had  attempted  to 
frown  it  down,  he  stood  forth  as  its  undaunted,  uncom- 
promising, eloquent,  and  powerful  champion. 

In  the  spring  of  1815,  he  was  recalled  to  Newark, 
to  the  pastorate  of  the  Second  Church.  Here,  among 
faithful  friends  and  among  old  revival-associations,  he 
devoted  himself  with  exemplary  fidelity  and  character- 
istic energy  to  his  pastoral  duties.  The  benevolent 
institutions  of  the  day  found  in  him  a  warm  and  trust- 
worthy friend.  He  was  one  of  the  original  founders 
of  the  Bible  Society.  The  United  Foreign  Mission 
Society  was  not  a  little  indebted  to  his  agency ;  while 
he  zealously  promoted  the  interests  of  the  school  esta- 
blished by  the  Synod  of  New  York  and  New  Jersey  for 
the  education  of  Africans.  In  1817,  he  published  his 
work  on  the  Extent  of  the  Atonement.  In  1821,  he 
was  invited  to  the  Presidency  of  Danville  College,  but 
ultimately  declined  the  overture, — accepting,  however, 
a  similar  invitation  soon  after  extended  him  from 
Williams  College. 

His  course  in  this  matter  undoubtedly  saved  the 
institution  from  extinction.  Its  continued  existence 
was  doubted  even  by  its  friends.  By  his  exertions  it 
was  eventually  placed  upon  a  solid  basis  and  its  pros- 
perity was  assured.     To  the  close  of  his  active  life  he 


NEW   JERSEY,    1800-1820.  553 

continued  at  its  head  ;  and.  when  increasing  debility 
debarred  him  from  the  privilege  of  further  service,  he 
returned  to  Newark  (1836),  to  die  among  his  friends. 

The  majestic  presence  of  the  man,  his  solemn  mien, 
his  manifest  sincerity,  Ins  deliberate  and  emphatic 
utterance,  the  simplicity  of  his  thoughts,  and  the  force 
and  beauty  of  his  language,  marked  him  as  the  orator. 
The  pulpit  was  his  throne.  There  he  maintained  an 
indisputable  pre-eminence.  The  tones  of  his  powerful 
voice  now  rang  forth  in  thrilling  appeal  and  now  sub- 
sided to  a  melting  pathos.  His  hearers  were  convinced, 
overawed,  electrified.  His  reading  of  the  Scriptures 
seemed  to  evolve  a  meaning  and  richness  unthought 
of  before.  He  threw  his  soul  into  his  utterance.  His 
manner  was  simple,  natural,  and  yet  dignified;  while 
his  gesture  was  governed  by  the  impulse  of  thought 
and  feeling.  The  tide  of  his  own  emotions  swept  along 
with  it  the  hearts  and  sympathies  of  his  hearers;  and 
those  who  had  once  been  permitted  to  listen  to  his 
bursts  of  luminous,  impassioned  utterance  would  be 
sure  never  to  forget  them. 

But  the  themes  and  doctrines  of  the  gospel  system 
were  those  upon  which  he  most  delighted  to  dwell. 
Tolerant  of  non-essential  differences,  he  was  tenacious 
of  all  that  was  vital  and  cardinal  to  the  glory  of 
redemption.  His  sympathies  were  broad  enough  to 
embrace  all  who  loved  Christ,  but  not  blind  enough  to 
strike  hands  with  those  who  betra}'ed  him  with  a  kiss. 

No  one  was  more  anxious  to  witness  the  success  ot* 
the  gospel,  or  to  promote  the  interests  of  religion  by 
all  proper  methods.  His  zeal  for  the  conversion  and 
salvation  of  souls  would,  in  one  less  magnificently 
and  symmetrically  endowed,  have  amounted  to  a  pas- 
sion; but  with  him  it  was  prompted  by  intelligent 
conviction,  and  guided,  rather  than  restrained,  by  judg- 
ment. His  sermons  were — many  of  them — written  in 
Vol.  I.— 47 


554  HISTORY    OF    PRESBYTERIANISM. 

the  midst  of  revival  scenes,  and  he  aimed  so  to  write 
them  that  they  might  be  used  in  revivals.  Indeed,  it 
was  only  when  the  minds  of  others  around  him  were 
most  deeply  stirred  by  the  power  of  eternal  things 
that  he  found  himself  in  a  sphere  most  congenial  to 
the  highest  effort.  The  result  of  his  labors  and  his 
prayers  was  what  might  have  been  reasonably  ex- 
pected. "  The  history  of  his  life,"  it  has  been  well 
said,  "seems  little  else  than  one  unbroken  revival;  and 
it  would  perhaps  be  difficult  to  name  the  individual  in 
our  country,  since  the  days  of  Whitefield,  who  was 
instrumental  of  an  equal  number  of  hopeful  conver- 
sions. " 

But,  with  all  his  ardent  emotion,  he  was  never  the 
victim  of  irregular  zeal.  The  spirit  of  fanaticism  was 
not  allowed  to  usurp  the  place  of  reason,  and  no  erratic 
or  extravagant  measures  could  secure  his  endorsement. 
With  a  keen  sense  of  propriety,  with  a  just  discrimina- 
tion between  the  proper  excitement  of  truth  and  the 
excesses  of  feeling,  but,  above  all,  with  clear  apprehen- 
sions of  what  was  requisite  to  the  new  life  of  the  soul 
and  what  was  essential  to  its  healthful  life,  he  would 
extend  his  approval  to  nothing  which  experience,  sound 
reason,  or  Scripture  had  not  already  endorsed. 

Such  was  the  man  who  for  years  stood  at  the  head 
of  the  Presbyterian  ministry  in  New  Jersey,  and,  in- 
deed, throughout  the  land.  He  was  not,  it  is  true,  an 
extemporaneous  speaker,  except  on  less  imposing  occa- 
sions. He  read  his  sermons ;  but  he  read  them  as  per- 
haps no  man  had  ever  read  before.  His  look,  tone, 
manner,  were  independent  of  the  manuscript  trammels 
by  which  many  are  bound,  and  he  used  his  manuscript 
to  make  them  more  free.  Perhaps  in  this  he  erred; 
but,  if  so,  the  error,  with  so  much  to  atone  for  it,  was 
venial ;  and  he  will  long  be  remembered  as  among  the 
princeliest  of  pulpit  Orators. 


NEW    JERSEY,    L800   L820.  000 

It  required  no  ordinary  man  to  iill  the  place  vacated 
by  Dr.  Griffin  in  the  Firsl  Church  in  L809.  Almost  any 
one  might  have  hesitated  long  before  consenting  to  ac- 
cept the  post  of  one  "the  splendor  of  whose  gifts  and 
the  power  of  whose  eloquence  had  elevated  him  to  the 
highest  rank  of  American  preachers."  But  since  1794, 
for  a  space  of  some  twelve  years,  there  had  been  preach- 
ing at  Morristown  a  young  man  who,  without  a  col- 
lege education,  had  risen  to  such  distinction  that  when 
but  thirty-seven  years  of  age  the  General  Assembly 
chose  him  as  its  moderator.  His  early  years  betrayed 
an  insatiable  thirst  for  knowledge,  but  the  circum- 
stances of  his  family  forbade  him  to  cherish  the  hope 
of  a  liberal  education.  At  Newtown,  Conn.,  at  Stamford, 
and,  it  is  said,  at  New  York,  he  labored,  as  his  feeble 
health  would  allow,  as  a  cabinet-  and  chair-maker.  In 
the  midst  of  his  gayety,  he  was  struck  under  conviction. 
He  was  converted,  and  resolved  to  devote  himself  to 
the  ministry.  But  ill  health,  weak  eyes,  and  the  lack 
of  means  to  prosecute  his  studies,  thwarted  his  plans. 
Yet  even  thus  he  resolved  to  persevere.  Gathering 
up  what  he  could  earn  by  teaching  school,  he  studied 
with  one  and  another  of  the  ministers  near  his  place 
of  residence  (New  Canaan),  among  others,  securing  the 
aid  of  Dr.  D.wight.  His  diligence  was  untiring,  and  his 
improvement  was  worthy  of  the  best  advantages. 

Licensed  to  preach  in  1793,  he  supplied  for  short 
periods  the  churches  at  Wilton,  Ballston,  Shelter  Island, 
and  Sag  Harbor.  Here  he  became  acquainted  with  Drs. 
Buell  and  Woolworth,  who  recommended  him  to  the 
church  at  Morristown,  vacant  by  the  resignation  of  Dr. 
Johnes.  This  venerable  man  was  made  the  umpire  to 
judge  of  the  fitness  of  the  youth  who  had  been  recom- 
mended as  his  successor.1     Sitting  in  his  own  dwelling, 

1  Spraguc,  in.  17. 


556  HISTORY    OF    PRESBYTERIANISM. 

under  the  burden  of  almost  fourscore  years,  he  listened 
to  the  discourse  which  was  to  determine  the  acceptable- 
ness  of  the  candidate.  The  decision  of  the  veteran 
pastor  was,  no  doubt,  favorable,  and  James  Richards 
entered  upon  his  labors  at  Morristown.  A  few  weeks 
passed  away,  and  his  predecessor,  surviving  long  enough 
to  know  that  his  place  was  to  be  filled  by  one  not  un- 
worthy to  wear  his  mantle, — like  aged  Simeon, — could 
utter  his  nunc  dimittis,  and  lie  down  to  die. 

Dr.  Richards  was  not  what  a  very  refined  taste  would 
call  a  finished,  or  even  a  graceful,  orator.  He  was  by 
no  means  the  equal,  in  powerful  and  impassioned  utter- 
ance, of  Dr.  Griffin.  His  genius,  his  brilliancy,  his 
graces,  might  all  be  summed  up  in  a  single  expression, 
— 2-ood  sense.  He  never  committed  a  blunder  or  an 
indiscretion.  He  neither  said  nor  did  a  foolish  thing. 
With  sound  judgment  he  combined  a  most  kind  and 
genial  spirit,  and  a  rare  power  in  the  discernment 
of  character.  He  read  human  nature,  as  it  came  under 
his  observation,  almost  by  intuition.  Yet,  in  spite  of 
its  foibles,  he  never  derided  its  weakness  or  repulsed 
its  claims  to  sympathy.  His  self-possession  and  his 
tact  were  perfect.  His  humor  was  not  exuberant,  but 
it  was  exceedingly  good-natured.  His  smile  was  be- 
nignant, and  his  portrait  would  answer  to  Goldsmith's 
limning  of  the  country  parson. 

In  the  pulpit  he  was  instructive,  solid,  and  impress- 
ive. He  was  ever  full  of  his  theme;  and  his  earnest- 
ness, if  rarely  impassioned,  was  grave  and  sincere. 
Above  all,  his  piety  was  uniform  and  ardent.  It  shone 
with  a  constant,  steady  light.  With  a  noble  Christian 
liberality,  he  was  yet  a  decided  Presbyterian.  Christ 
was  the  centre  of  his  system;  and  rarely  did  he  preach 
a  sermon  in  which  the  cross  was  not  exhibited.  His 
labors  at  Newark  were  signally  blessed.  Powerful 
revivals  were  enjoj  ed  in  1813  and  1817;  and  during  his 


NEW    .1  HUSKY,    1800-1820.  557 

fourteen  years'  pastorate  of  the  church  about  fivo 
hundred  were  added  to  its  communion,  two-thirds  of 
the  number  on  profession  of  faith.  In  1823,  he  accepted 
a  call  to  the  Professorship  of  Theolog}'  in  Auburn 
Theological  Seminary,  and  died,  in  the  discharge  of  its 
duties,  in  1843. 

A  genial  associate  and  close  friend  of  Griffin  and 
Richards  was  Asa  Hillyer,  of  Orange.  His  pastorate 
extended  from  1801  to  1833;  and  even  till  his  death,  in 
1840,  he  did  not  fail  to  devote  his  waning  strength  to 
his  Master's  service.  A  graduate  of  Yale  College  in 
1786,  and  a  theological  pupil,  first  of  Dr.  Buell,  of  East 
Hampton,  and  afterward  of  Dr.  Livingston,  of  New 
York,  he  supplied  for  a  time  the  church  of  Madison, 
and  in  1798  performed  a  missionary  tour  of  nine  hun- 
dred miles  in  the  new  settlements. 

With  a  fine  person,  a  countenance  open  and  genial, 
and  bland  and  winning  manners,  Dr.  Hillyer  was  a 
model  of  Christian  and  ministerial  dignity,  consistency, 
and  loveliness.  Kind  and  considerate,  social  and  urbane, 
he  reminded  one  of  "the  disciple  whom  Jesus  loved." 
Respectable  as  a  preacher,  he  was  devoted  as  a  pastoi\ 
His  sensibilities  were  keen,  and  in  him  his  people  found, 
both  in  their  joys  and  their  sorrows,  a  sympathizing 
friend.  In  the  house  of  affliction,  by  the  bedside  of 
the  sufferer,  and  amid  the  grief  of  desolate  homes,  he 
was  a  son  of  consolation.  The  anxious  and  inquiring 
found  in  him  a  faithful  guide  and  a  tender  counsellor. 
Under  his  ministry,  his  church  became  one  of  tho 
largest  and  most  influential  in  the  State.1 

At  Mendham   the   pastoral   services  of  Amzi  Arm- 

1  The  church  of  Wardsesson,  or  Bloomfield,  was  organized  p.a 
the  Third  Presbyterian  Church,  in  the  township  of  Newark,  in  3  794. 
For  many  years  it  had  no  settled  pastor.  Previous,  however,  to 
1814,  Cyrus  Guildersleeve  accepted  the  charge.  He  left  previous  to 
1819,  and  in  1820  was  succeeded  by  G.  N.  Judd. 

47* 


558  HISTORY    OF    PRESBYTERIANISM. 

strong  extended  from  1796  to  1816,  a  period  of  twenty 
years.  Though  not  a  college  graduate,  he  was  a 
diligent  student,  and,  before  and  after  the  close  of 
his  pastorate,  was  distinguished  as  a  teacher.  With 
an  open  countenance,  eyes  bright  and  piercing,  cour- 
teous and  gentlemanly  manners,  he  occupied  a  high 
place  in  the  esteem  of  his  brethren  and  the  affections 
of  his  people.  In  his  perceptions  he  was  quick,  saga- 
cious, and  clear;  and  his  lucid  exposition  of  matters 
under  debate  won  for  him  the  facetious  sobriquet  of 
"  the  snuffers  of  the  Presbytery."  In  the  pulpit  he 
dispensed  with  manuscripts,  and  spoke  with  great  force 
and  self-possession.  In  social  life  he  was  urbane  and 
genial,  wTith  a  ready  flow  of  wit  and  a  remarkable 
command  of  good-natured  sarcasm.  He  was  of  an 
uncommonly  happy  disposition;  and  the  mirthfulness 
of  his  spirit  enlivened  his  intercourse,  especially  with 
his  more  intimate  friends.  Removing  at  the  close  of 
his  pastorate  to  take  charge  of  the  school  at  Bloomfield, 
he  gave  place  to  his  more  illustrious  successor,  Samuel 
Hanson  Cox.1 

At  Morristown,  after  the  vacancy  occasioned  by  the 
resignation  of  Dr.  Richards,  a  call  was  extended  to  Dr. 
Wm.  A.  McDowell,  who  had  been  settled  for  a  short 
time  (1813-14)  at  Bound  Brook.  For  nine  years  his 
ministry  at  Morristown  was  characterized  by  great 
acceptableness  and  usefulness.  The  failure  of  his  health 
forced  him  to  remove  to  the  South;  and  for  nine  years 
he  was  pastor  of  a  church  in  Charleston,  S.C.  He  was 
subsequently  chosen   Secretary  of  the  Board  of  Do- 

1  After  a  brief  pastorate  at  Mendham,  Dr.  Cox  was  succeeded  by 
Dr.  Philip  C.  Hay.  The  latter  was  a  native  of  Newark,  a  graduate 
of  Nassau  Hall,  and  a  licentiate  of  Jersey  Presbytery  (1820).  He  was 
called  soon  after  to  Mendham,  where  heremained  till  invited  to  succeed 
Dr.  Griffin  at  Newark.  He  subsequently  labored  at  Geneva,  N.Y., 
and  died  in  lbtiO.    He  had  studied  law  before  entering  the  ministry- 


NEW    JERSEY,    1800-1820.  559 

mestic  Missions,  and  continued  in  the  discharge  of  its 
duties  till  L850. 

Of  a  kindly  spirit,  an  even  temper,  and  unassuming 
manners,  he  was  a  friend  to  be  prized  and  loved.  His 
sermons  were  more  solid  than  brilliant,  characterized 
by  logical  acumen  rather  than  excursive  imagination. 
In  prayer  he  was  eminently  gifted,  and  in  pastoral  duty 
singularly  faithful.  The  partial  failure  of  his  voice 
interfered  with  his  usefulness  and  circumscribed  his 
efforts.  Never  imperious,  with  a  heart  glowing  with 
benevolence  and  characterized  by  childlike  simplicity, 
he  won  many  and  lost  no  friends. 

At  Kockaway,  which  had  been  vacant  for  several 
years  previous,  Barnabas  King  commenced  his  labors 
in  1806.  In  October,  1807,  he  divided  his  time  between 
Kockaway  and  Sparta.  His  first  intention,  after  his 
graduation  at  Williams  College  in  1804  and  his  licen- 
sure by  the  Berkshire  Association  in  the  following  year, 
had  been  to  seek  a  missionary  field  in  the  new  settle- 
ments of  Western  New  York;  but  in  the  region  around 
him  he  found  enough  of  missionary  labor  to  task  all 
his  powers.  The  church  at  Kockaway  was  wellnigh 
extinct,  and  his  labors  were  truly  in  a  new  and  hard 
field.1  From  Powerville  to  Berkshire,  and  from  Walnut 
Grove  to  Stony  Brook,  could  be  collected  only  thirty- 
five  church-members.  Of  these  twelve  were  widows; 
and  of  the  whole  number  only  three  men  were  found 
who  prayed  in  public.  But  soon  after  he  began  his 
labors  a  general  seriousness  was  observed  to  prevail, 
which  ere  long  deepened  into  a  revival.  Before  the 
close  of  1808,  eighty  converts  were  added  to  the  church 
as  the  auspicious  beginning  of  his  ministry.  On  De- 
cember 27th  of  that  year,  he  was  ordained  and  in- 
stalled pastor  of  the  church. 

1  Tuttle's  Funeral  Sermon   v.  9. 


560  HISTORY    OF    PRESBYTERIANISM. 

Frail  and  feeble  in  appearance,  and  supposed  by- 
all  to  be  consumptive,  he  was  spared  to  the  discharge 
of  a  long  and  useful  pastorate.  In  labors  he  was  abun- 
dant. He  catechized  the  young,  visited  the  schools, 
preached  from  house  to  house,  and  with  simplicity  and 
godly  sincerity  sought  the  salvation  of  souls.  For 
forty  years  there  was  but  one  communion-season  in 
which  some  were  not  added  to  the  church.  In  1818, 
one  hundred  and  fifty-one  professed  their  faith  in 
Christ. 

But,  while  faithful  to  his  special  charge,  he  did  not 
neglect  the  missionary  field  around  him.  With  the 
best  men  of  Jersey  Presbytery  he  bore  his  full  share 
in  itinerant  evangelization,  going  from  Powles  Hook 
to  the  Delaware  to  tell  the  destitute  of  Christ.  The 
monuments  of  his  success  were  scattered  around  him 
far  and  near.  One  of  the  most  eminent  of  his  con- 
temporaries remarked  that  he  knew  "  of  no  minister 
whose  walk  and  labor  and  success  had  been  so  ad- 
mirable as  those  of  Mr.  King,  of  Kockaway;"  and 
another  thought  it  might  be  said,  with  truth,  that 
"  the  grace  that  was  bestowed  upon  him  was  not  in  vain, 
for  he  labored  more  abundantly  than  they  all." 

His  great  ambition  was  to  win  souls.  His  one  book 
was  the  Bible.  As  a  preacher  he  was  simple  and  scrip- 
tural; and  his  whole  course  was  characterized  by  good 
sense,  consummate  judgment,  earnestness  of  purpose, 
and  devotion  to  his  work.  Usefulness  he  preferred  to 
eloquence  or  learning.  Yet  his  utterance  was  always 
manly,  and  at  times  fervent.  One  of  his  most  critical 
hearers  remarked  that  "he  never  said  a  foolish  thing." 

Amid  fragrant  memories,  and  the  rich  harvests  of 
the  usefulness  he  coveted,  he  descended  to  the  grave  in 
a  ripe  and  beautiful  old  age.  The  wrinkles  of  more 
than  fourscore  years  were  on  his  brow,  but  there  was 
no   wrinkle   on   h's   heart.     His    closing    hours   were 


NEW    JERSEY,    1S00-1S20.  5G1 

marked  by  peace  and  cheerful  bope,  and  when  called 
to  deparl  he  was  ready  for  the  summons.  The  death 
of  Dr.  King  >ccurred  April  LO,  L862. 

The  labors  of  Aaron  Condict  commenced  in  Hanover 
in  1796,  and  extended  to  Oct.  6,  183.1.  Under  his  min- 
istry more  than  seven  hundred  were  admitted  to  the 
communion  of  the  Church,  and  he  was  permitted  to 
witness  nine  or  ten  distinct  revivals  of  religion.  His 
wisdom,  humility,  benevolence,  and  hospitality,  his 
interest  in  whatever  pertained  to  the  prosperity  of  the 
Redeemer's  kingdom,  and  the  fact  that  four  of  his  sons 
entered  the  ministry,  some  of  whom  have  risen  to  high 
usefulness  and  distinction,  entitle  his  name  to  honor- 
able mention. 

At  Perth  Amboy,  where  a  church  had  been  formed 
previous  to  18U9,  Josiah  B.  Andrews — for  a  time  a  mis- 
sionary of  the  Connecticut  Society — was  settled  some 
six  or  eight  years  later;  and  his  ministry  continued  till 
1825.  At  Elizabethtown  the  gifted  and  eloquent  Henry 
Kollock,  in  1800,  commenced  his  ministry,  removing, 
however,  after  three  years,  to  Princeton,  where  he 
labored,  as  pastor  of  the  church  and  professor  in  the 
college,  until  his  settlement  at  Savannah  in  1806.  His 
successor  at  Elizabethtown  was  Dr.  John  McDowell, 
whose  name  is  a  treasured  one  in  the  history  of  the 
Church,  and  during  whose  ministry  a  Second  Church 
was  formed  (1820),  which  has  enjoyed  from  its  origin 
the  pastoral  labors  of  Dr.  David  Magie.1 

1  The  church  was  organized,  and  Dr.  Magie  commenced  his  labors, 
in  the  fall  of  1820.  The  membership  of  the  church  was  forty-one, — 
all,  with  a  siugle  exception,  from  the  First  Church. — Dr.  Magidi 
Fortieth  Anniversary  Sermon. 

The  Third  Church,  under  the  pastoral  charge  of  Robert  Aikman 
since  its  organization,  was  formed  in  1851,  reporting  a  membership 
of  ninety-one  in  the  following  year.  In  the  First  Church  the  suc- 
cessor of  Dr.  McDowo  1  was  Dr.  Nicholas  Murray. 


562  HISTORY    OF    PRESBYTERIANISM. 

The  successor  of  Dr.  Eoe,  of  Woodbridge,  upon  his 
death  in  1815,  was  Henry  Mills  (ordained  and  installed 
July  12,  1816),  subsequently  professor  at  Auburn,  who 
in  turn  was  succeeded  by  William  B.  Barton.  At  Eah- 
way,  Buckley  Carll  (settled  in  1804)  continued  as  pas- 
tor till  about  1825,  and  his  death  took  place  in  1842. 
At  Paterson,  where  a  church  had  been  formed  pre- 
vious to  1814,  Samuel  Fisher  commenced  his  somewhat 
extended  pastorate  a  few  years  later.  At  South  Hano- 
ver (or  Chatham),  Dr.  Perrine,  who  removed  to  New 
York  in  1811  to  take  charge  of  the  Spring  Street 
Church,  was  succeeded  by  John  G.  Bergen.  John  Ford, 
for  more  than  forty  years  pastor  at  Parsippany,  com- 
menced his  labors  there  about  the  year  1816. 

The  other  ministers  of  Jersey  Presbytery  in  1820 
were  Henry  Cook  at  Woodbridge  Second,  where  e 
had  been  settled  for  nearly  twenty  years;  Stephen 
Thompson,  who  previous  to  1809  had  succeeded  Elias 
Eiggs,  at  Connecticut  Farms;  Mr.  Eiggs,  who  had 
removed  to  take  charge  of  New  Providence;  Jacob 
Green  at  Succasunna,  and  John  E.  Miller  at  Eoxbury, 
where  they  had  succeeded  Lemuel  Fordham,  whose 
charge  had  extended  to  both  churches.  Besides  these, 
Amzi  Armstrong,  Noah  Crane,  Humphrey  M.  Perrine, 
and  Edward  Allen  were  without  charge ;  while  the 
churches  of  Bloomfield,1  Westfield,  Springfield,  Har- 
diston,  Jersey,  Eamapo,  Newfoundland,  Stony  Brook, 
and  Long  Pond  were  (1819)  vacant. 

In  the  New  Brunswick  Presbytery,  Dr.  Woodhull 
was  still  at  Freehold;  his  son,  George  S.  Woodhull,  had. 
been  many  years  at  Cranberry,  where  he  was  succeeded 
by  S.  C.  Henry,  Aug.  8,  1820.  Joseph  Eue  was  still 
(1785-1826)  pastor  of  Penningtrjn  and  Trenton  First; 
while  John  Cornell  was  settled  at  Allentown  and  Not- 


1  G.  N.  Judd  was  installed  at  Bloomfield  Aug.  2,  1820. 


NEW    JERSEY,     1S00-1S20.  503 

tingham,  where  he  had  succeeded  Joseph  Clark  pre- 
vious to  1803.  At  Trenton,  S.  B.  How,  successor  of 
J.  F.  Armstrong  (1787—1816),  and  subsequently  settled 
a1  New  Brunswick,  was  pastor;  at  Bound  Brook,  John 
Boggs  (1816-28),  who  had  succeeded  David  Barclay 
(1794-1805)rS.  S.  Woodhull  (1805-06),  James  Patterson 
(1809-13),  and  Win.  A.  McDowell  (dismissed  1814);  and 
at  Kingston,  David  Comfort.  At  Lawrenceville  a 
church  had  recently  been  organized,  of  which  I.  V. 
Brown  was  pastor.  New  Brunswick,  after  having  suc- 
cessively Walter  Monteith  and  Joseph  Clark  (1797- 
1813),  was  under  the  pastoral  charge  of  L.  J.  F.  Hun- 
tington -1  and  Princeton — which  after  the  dismissal 
of  Kollock  in  1806  had  called  William  C.  Schenk, 
who  remained  for  several  years — was  vacant.  Middle- 
town  Point,  Shrewsbury,  and  Shark  Eiver  were  like- 
wise vacant,  but  unable  to  support  a  pastor. 

At  Princeton,  where  the  Theological  Seminary  had 
meanwhile  been  established,  were  Drs.  Green,  Smith, 
Miller,  Alexander,  and  Lindsley,  all  without  pastoral 
charge,  but  members  of  the  Presbytery.  Dr.  Samuel 
Stanhope  Smith,  for  many  years  President  of  the  col- 
lege, had  become  by  disease  disabled  from  active  ser- 
vice. But  his  life  hitherto  had  been  one  of  incessant 
activity  and  extended  usefulness.  A  son  of  Robert 
Smith,  of  Pequa,  a  graduate  of  Princeton,  a  tutor  in 
the  college,  a  missionary  in  Western  Virginia,  where 
he  was  hailed  as  a  second  Davies,  then  President  of 
Hampden-Sidney  College,  which  was  built  and  endowed 
that  he  might  be  placed  at  its  head,  he  was  invited  in 
1779  to  the  chair  of  Moral  Philosophy  at  Nassau  Hall, 
and  accepted  the  appointment.  »The  state  of  the  col- 
lege was  most  unpromising.  Given  up  to  the  uses  of 
the  army  during  the   previous  year  of  the   war,   the 

1  He  died  May  1,  1820,  and  was  succeeded  by  J.  P.  Jones. 


561  HISTORY    OF    PRESBYTERIANISM. 

building  was  in  ruins,  the  students  were  dispersed, 
and,  through  the  necessary  absence  of  Dr.  Witherspoon 
to  serve  in  the  councils  of  the  nation,  the  operations 
of  the  institution  had  ceased.  By  the  vigor,  wisdom, 
and  generous  self-devotion  of  Dr.  Smith,  these  were 
revived;  and  the  subsequent  prosperity  of  the  college 
was  largely  due  to  his  unceasing  vigilance,  earnest 
efforts,  and  distinguished  ability.  Upon  the  death  of 
Dr.  "Witherspoon,  he  was  elected  to  fill  his  place. 
Meanwhile,  his  reputation  as  a  pulpit-orator  had  spread 
far  and  near.  Persons  were  known  to  come  from  New 
York  and  Philadelphia — a  distance  of  some  forty  miles 
— to  listen  to  his  Baccalaureate  discourses. 

In  the  spring  of  1802,  the  college-edifice  was  de 
stroyed  by  fire.  The  libraries,  furniture,  and  fixtures 
of  every  description  were  consumed.  The  charter,  the 
grounds,  and  the  naked  walls  of  brick  and  stone,  were 
all  that  was  left.  But  the  trustees,  recovering  from 
the  stunning  blow,  resolved  to  proceed  at  once  to  the 
work  of  renovation.  Dr.  Smith  went  on  a  begging 
tour  to  the  Southern  States,  and  returned  with  one 
hundred  thousand  dollars.  Liberal  collections  from 
other  parts  of  the  country  added  to  the  sum,  and  the 
institution  soon  attained  more  than  its  former  pros- 
perity. This  was  his  crowning  achievement.  His 
physical  system,  repeatedly  prostrated  before, — for  he 
had  been  disabled  by  blindness  and  haemorrhage, — 
at  length  began  to  feel  the  weight  of  years  and  pro- 
tracted service,  and,  in  1812,  repeated  strokes  of  palsy 
warned  him  to  desist  from  active  service.  He  resigned 
his  post  as  President,  and  after  seven  years,  in  which 
he  was  scarcely  capable  of  mental  labor,  died,  Aug.  21, 
1819,  in  the  seventieth  year  of  his  age. 

In  the  Middle  and  Southern  States,  where  he  was 
best  known,  Dr.  Smith  was  regarded  as  the  most 
learned  and  eloquent  divine  of  the  age.     Men  that  had 


\K\V    JERSEY,   L800   L820.  5G5 

listened  to  Davies  and  fell  the  power  of  Patriot  Eenry 
were  enthusiastic  in  his  praise.  The  bighesl  expecta- 
tions of  him  excited  by  bis  tame  were  realized.  It 
seemed  natural  for  him  "to  ]>ut  proper  words  in  proper 
places,"  and  to  select  the  most  expressive.  He  eschewed 
all  affectation,  mannerism,  and  formality.  His  sincerity 
and  uprightness  could  not  be  questioned.  Firm,  reso- 
lute, decided,  courteous,  and  dignified  in  his  deport- 
ment. Ins  verv  presence  commanded  respeel  and  over- 
awed turbulence  and  mischief.  In  the  college,  in  Pres- 
bytery, Synod,  and  General  Assembly,  as  well  as  before 
a  promiscuous  audience,  he  was  perfectly  at  ease  and 
master  of  himself.  His  intellectual  resources,  which 
were  rich  and  varied,  were  ever  at  his  command.  The 
purity  of  his  life,  his  humble  faith,  his  cheerful  temper, 
his  habitual  meekness,  sympathy,  and  charity,  were  in 
keeping  with  his  venerable  figure,  saintly  aspect,  and 
benignant  smile.  One  who  knew  him  well  in  his  later 
years1  speaks  of  his  life  then  as  "a  bright,  blessed, 
glorious  vision,  such  as  we  dream  of  but  never  realize. 
It  seemed  as  if  all  the  Christian  graces  and  virtues, 
freed  from  every  human  imperfection,  had  now  clus- 
tered around  him,  and  blended  together,  like  the  colors 
of  the  rainbow,  into  a  living  form  of  chastened,  hal- 
lowed, radiant  loveliness." 

The  man  who  succeeded  to  the  post  made  vacant  by 
his  resignation  was  of  a  quite  different  stamp.  He  was 
as  clear-headed,  not  less  practical,  quite  as  energetic, 
but  with  little  of  the  peculiar  grace  of  manner  and 
eloquence  which  invested  the  name  of  President  Smith 
with  lustre.  Ashbel  Green  was  a  shrewd  and  able 
man.  The  impression  of  his  presence  was  that  of 
one  born  to  command.  His  comprehension  of  truth 
was    acute,  logical,   mathematical.     In    the    pulpit    he 


1  President  Lindsley. 
Vol.  I.— 48 


566  HISTORY  or  presbyteria.nism. 

might  convince,  but  he  kindled  no  man  to  rapture. 
.None  of  his  hearers  so  far  forgot  themselves  as  to 
imagine  that  they  were  anywhere  else  than  under  the 
sound  of  his  voice.  Dr.  Caldwell,  of  Philadelphia,1 
with  his  keen  appreciation  of  Fisher  Ames,  could  not 
relish  him, — pronounced  him  dull,  and  chose  to  hear 
some  other  preacher.  And  yet  he  was  a  man  of  power. 
He  knew  his  object,  and  took  the  most  effectual  method 
to  attain  it.  He  never  surrendered  to  a  weak  sympathy, 
or  compromised  with  what  he  accounted  error.  His 
blows  were  direct,  premeditated,  hearty.  If  he  wTished 
to  rebuke  a  sin,  he  did  it, — and  did  it  with  a  boldness 
and  fearlessness  which  struck  terror  into  the  victim, 
Yet  he  was  not  wanting  in  kindness  and  charity.  If 
never  surprised  into  emotion,  he  was  not  without  warm 
feelings;  and  his  pulpit-labors  testified  to  his  zeal  for 
souls  as  well  as  his  zeal  for  truth.  In  any  sphere  or 
calling  he  would  have  held  a  high  rank.  As  a  states- 
man, he  would  have  shaped  the  policy  of  his  party,  if 
not  of  the  country.  As  a  general,  he  would  have  main- 
tained the  power  as  well  as  the  title  of  his  office,  nor 
would  he  have  lacked  sagacity  or  energy;  or,  if  his 
lot  had  fallen  u'pon  times  which  made  it  a  duty  and 
necessity,  he  would,  like  Samuel,  with  iron  nerve  have 
"  hewed  Agag  in  pieces  before  the  Lord." 

Such  was  the  man  who  was  called  to  succeed  to  the 
Presidency  of  the  College  of  New  Jersey.  For  more 
than  twenty  years  he  had  been  settled  over  the  Second 
Presbyterian  Church  in  Philadelphia,  and  had  been 
one  of  the  leading  members,  and  for  some  time  stated 
clerk,  of  the  General  Assembly.  Thoroughly  identified, 
in  all  his  views,  sympathies,  and  opinions,  with  the 
Presbyterian  Church,  an  able  administrator,  and  a 
rigid    disciplinarian,    some    would    have    pronounced 

1  See  his  Autobiography. 


NEW   JERSEY,    1800-1820.  507 

him  a  bigotj  but  the  nature  of  the  man  made  him  un- 
bending in  purpose,  and  his  devotion  to  the  interests 
of  what  he  deemed  truth  and  righteousness  was 
supreme.  Whatever  he  took-  in  hand  lie  did  with  his 
might, and, in  whate'ver  sphere  he  moved,  he  Left  behind 
him  the  impression  of  his  activity  and  energy. 

Of  Dr.  Alexander  it  is  enough  to  say  that,  when  the 
General  Assembly  determined  to  establish  a  seminary 
lit  Princeton,  he  was  the  man  selected  before  all  others 
to  occupy  the  post  of  Theological  Professor.  At  the 
age  of  forty,  he  was  called  from  his  pastorate  in  Phila- 
delphia to  occupy  this  position.  Artless,  frank,  un- 
ass liming,  and  transparent  in  simplicity  and  integrity, 
he  commanded  love,  as  well  as  confidence  and  respect. 
His  keen  susceptibility  and  warmly  sympathetic  nature, 
his  cheerful  vivacity, — which  never  forsook  him,  even  to 
the  last, — his  ready  utterance  and  perfect  command  of 
all  the  resources  of  clear  exposition,  of  appeal  and  per- 
suasion, combined  to  place  him  in  the  front  rank  of 
pul pit-orators.  In  the  professor's  chair  he  shone  with 
equal  distinction,  and  was  never  found  wanting  in  any 
emergency.  But  his  deep  and  ardent  piety  crowned 
his  rare  intellectual  gifts  and  attainments  with  peculiar 
lustre;  and  the  reverence  and  affection  of  hundreds  of 
his  pupils  have  long  supplied  the  place  of  eulogy.  In 
a  ripe  old  age,  beautiful  as  the  cloudless  sun  at  its  set- 
ting, he  went  down  to  the  grave,  leaving  behind  him  a 
memory  fragrant  with  precious  and  hallowed  asso- 
ciations. 

Dr.  Miller  was  called,  in  1813,  to  the  chair  of  Eccle- 
siastical Eistory  and  Church  Government  in  the  semi- 
nary. For  twenty  years  he  had  labored  as  an  accept- 
able, influential,  and  popular  pastor  in  New  York 
With  little  about  him  that  would  be  called  brilliant,  ho 
was  yet  an  easy,  graceful,  and  dignified  speaker.  Of 
a   remarkably   line    person,  with    bland    and   attractive 


568  HISTORY    OF    PRESBYTERIANISM. 

manners,  and,  from  the  first,  master  of  an  uncommonly 
polished  style,  his  pulpit-performances  were  not  only 
uniformly  unexceptionable,  but  admirable.  One  familiar 
with  the  old  Puritans  would  have  been  reminded  by 
him  of  "the  silver-tongued  Bates."  His  intellectual 
and  moral  character  was  in  keeping  with  the  sym- 
metry of  his  person.  Never  bold  or  startling,  his 
attitudes  in  the  pulpit  were  extremely  dignified,  not  to 
say  precise;  his  voice,  though  not  strong,  was  pleasant; 
his  utterance  was  deliberate,  and  his  enunciation  dis- 
tinct. His  thoughts,  if  neither  remarkably  versatile, 
original,  nor  striking,  were  always  appropriate,  and 
never  commonplace.  He  might  not  thrill,  but  he  rarely 
failed  to  convince.  If  he  did  not  startle,  he  yet  com- 
manded assent;  and  in  all  his  intercourse  he  manifested 
the  traits  of  the  perfect  Christian  gentleman.  Even 
toward  an  adversary,  and  in  the  warmth  of  contro- 
versy, he  could  not  be  other  than  bland  and  courteous; 
and  the  superior  moral  qualities  of  bis  nature  were 
moulded  by  grace  into  an  exalted  specimen  of  Christian 
excellence.  A  student,  but  not  a  recluse,  a  pleasant 
companion,  but  not  forgetful  of  the  proprieties  of  his 
sacred  office,  a  teacher  who  could  be  genial  and  yet 
command  respect,  he  filled  for  a  period  of  nearly 
thirty  years  the  post  of  honor  and  responsibility  to 
which  he  had  been  elected  by  the  suffrage  of  the  Church. 
At  the  time  when  Dr.  Miller  commenced  his  labors 
as  professor  at  Princeton,  a  young  man  then  twenty- 
seven  years  of  age,  who  had  been — although  not  con- 
secutively— for  three  years  a  tutor  in  the  college,  was 
appointed  to  the  Professorship  of  Languages.  He  was 
a  native  of  Morristown,  successively  a  pupil  of  Robert 
Finle}^,  a  graduate  of  Nassau  Hall,  and  a  licentiate  of 
the  New  Brunswick  Presbytery.  He  studied  theology 
under  Dr  Smith  and  Dr.  Perrine,  and,  although  sub- 
sequently   ordained,   sine    titulo,   devoted    himself   to 


NEW   JER8EY,    L800   1820..  569 

academical  pursuits.  This  young  man  was  Philip 
Lindsley.  lie  sought  do  honors;  bul  honors  were 
heaped  upon  him.     So  late  as  1855,  on   being  asked  it' 

he  would  serve  as  commissioner  to  the  General  As- 
sembly, his  significanl  and  characteristic  reply  was.  ••  I 
have  uever  BOUghl  any  appointment;  and  when  God 
has  placed  upon  me  a  duty.  I  endeavor  to  discharge  it." 
In  September,  1817,  he  was  elected  Vice-President  of 
the  College  of  New  Jersey.  On  the  resignation  of  Dr. 
Green,  in  1822,  he  was  for  one  year  the  acting  President. 
Early  in  1823,  he  was  chosen  President  of  Cumberland 
College,  Tennessee,  and,  a  few  months  later,  President 
of  the  College  of  New  Jersey.  Both  appointments  he 
declined,  as  well  as  a  subsecpient  overture  to  accept 
the  Presidency  of  Ohio  University. 

Urgent  application  led  him  to  reconsider  his  refusal 
to  accept  the  Presidency  of  Cumberland  College.  He 
was  inaugurated  Jan.  12,  182.");  and  the  institution, 
under  the  name  of  the  University  of  Nashville,  enjoyed 
his  labors  for  more  than  a  quarter  of  a  century.  At 
least  ten  colleges,  some  of  them  repeatedly,  invited 
him.  during  his  public  career,  to  become  their  President. 
But  his  ambition  grasped  at  usefulness  rather  than 
distinction;  and  the  cause  of  piety  and  learning  will 
ever  number  him  among  its  greatest  and  most  efficient 
benefactors. 

As  an  instructor,  Dr.  Lindsley  had  few  rivals,  and 
perhaps  no  BuperiOr,  in  the  land.  He  communicated  to 
his  pupils  his  own  enthusiasm.  In  the  lecture-room — 
where  his  style  was  conversational — he  is  said  to  have 
been  perfectly  fascinating.  The  rich,  treasures  of  his 
well-stored  mind  were  poured  forth  without  apparent 
effort.  The  force  and  beauty  of  his  language  and  the 
richness  of  his  thoughl  borrowed  a  new  charm  from 
his  tine  personal  appearance.  •  Witli  a  form  perfectly 
erect  and  symmetrical,  with  features  chiselled  after  the 

48* 


570  HISTORY    OF    PRESBYTERIiLNISIU. 

finest  Grecian  mould,  a  spacious  dome-like  forehead 
crowned  with  full  black  hair,  a  dark  penetrating  eye 
that  flashed  with  indescribable  emotion  as  he  spoke,  a 
peculiar  play  of  expression  about  the  mouth  which  no 
painter's  art  could  ever  catch,  and  a  voice  rich  and 
musical  alike  in  its  highest  and  lowest  notes,  he  pos- 
sessed, aside  from  his  rare  intellectual  gifts  and  attain- 
ments, every  outward  attribute  to  make  him  attractive 
in  conversation  and  eloquent  as  a  public  speaker."  On 
some  occasions  he  was  not  merely  graceful,  elegant,  or 
dignified;  he  was  majestic.  The  admiration  of  his 
pupils  was  expressed  by  the  classic  epithets  applied  to 
him  of  "  Hector"  and  "  Achilles." 

Precise,  accurate,  and  thorough  as  a  scholar,  pro- 
found and  often  original  as  a  thinker,  fascinating, 
powerful,  and  impressive  as  a  preacher,  he  devoted 
himself  with  untiring  energy  to  the  cause  of  sound 
and  Christian  learning;  and  all  his  varied  excellences 
were  combined  to  advance  and  extend  the  influence  of 
truth  and  promote  the  interests  of  morality,  Christian 
education,  and  pure  religion. 

The  name  of  Robert  Finley  is  one  that  deserves 
honorable  mention.  His  father  was  a  personal  friend 
of  Dr.  Witherspoon,  and  the  son  prosecuted  his  early 
studies  under  Ashbel  Green  while  the  latter  was  yet 
an  under-graduate  at  Princeton.  His  inquiring  and 
acquisitive  mind,  as  well  as  his  exemplary  sobriety  and 
stability  of  character,  even  before  entering  college, 
gave  promise  of  a  future  which  was  not  belied  by  ex- 
perience. In  his  sixteenth  year  he  was  graduated  at 
New  Jersey  College,  and  for  eight  years — two  of  which 
were  devoted  to  his  tutorship  at  Princeton — he  was 
engaged  in  teaching.  In  1795,  he  took  charge  of  the 
congregation  of  Baskingridge,  and  in  1803  a  revival 
of  great  power  prevailed  among  his  people.  His  active 
mind  was  incessantly  employed  in  devising  new  and 


NKW   JERSEY,    L800-  L820.  571 

increased  means  of  usefulness,  and  the  cause  of  Chris* 
tian  philanthropy  found  in  him  a  warm  and  devoted 
friend.  In  1815,  he  suggested  the  idea  of  communicat- 
ing religious  instruction  by  means  of  Bible-classes,  and, 
after  putting  his  theories  to  the  test  in  his  own  con- 
gregation,  secured  their  endorsement  and  recommenda- 
tion by  the  General  Assembly.  For  several  years — 
partly  through  his  residence  in  Charleston  as  a  teacher 
— his  attention  had  been  called  to  the  condition  of  the 
free  colored  people  in  this  country,  and.  in  the  spirit  of 
a  broad  philanthropy,  he  conceived  the  plan  of  coloniza- 
tion. Early  in  December,  I8l<>,  he  visited  Washington 
to  excite  the  interest  and  secure  the  co-operation  of 
leading  mem  hers  of  Congress  in  the  formation  of  a 
society  designed  to  carry  out  his  plan.  His  efforts 
were  not  without  success;  and  within  the  month  a 
society  was  organized,  of  which  Bushrod  Washington 
was  elected  President.  The  result  was  not  accomplished 
without  encountering  a  large  measure  of  indifference 
and  prejudice.  Meanwhile,  he  received  a  call  to  the 
Presidency  of  Georgia  University,  which  he  felt  it  his 
duty  to  accept.  Undaunted  by  the  difficulties  of  the 
situation. — for  the  institution,  he  found,  was  at  its  "  last 
gasp/1 — he  Bet  himself  vigorously  to  the  task  before 
him,  perfecting  the  organization,  or  begging  funds  for 
the  institution.  A  Presbyterian  church,  moreover, 
through  his  exertions,  was  organized  in  the  place 
(Athens),  and  he  became  its  stated  Bupply.  But  the 
burdens  he  had  assumed,  combined  with  the  debilitating 
influence  of  the  climate,  prostrated  his  Btrength,  and 
the  disease  which  supervened  brought  his  life  to  a  close 
in  October,  1817.  Exemplary  as  a  pastor,  faithful  and 
earnest  as  a  preacher, a  friend  of  revivals,  a  man  above 
every  thing  like  duplicity  or  disingennousness,  he  was 
yet  more  distinguished  for  his  public  spirit  and  his 
thorough   devotion   to   the   cause   of  Christian   philan- 


672  HISTORY    OF   PRESBYTERIANISM.' 

thropy.  The  Church  has  few  brighter  names  on  her  list 
of  true  and  noble  men  than  that  of  Dr.  Eobert  Finley. 

Newton  Presbytery,  erected  in  1817,  numbered  in 
1819  fourteen  members  and  had  under  its  care  twenty- 
five  congregations.  Holloway  W.  Hunt,  after  a  pastor- 
ate of  nearly  twenty  years,  was  still  at  Bethlehem, 
Kingswood,  and  Alexandria.  William  B.  Sloan,  for 
several  years  pastor  of  Greenwich  and  Mansfield, 
retained  the  former  congregation;  while  Jacob  A.  Cost- 
ner  was  settled  over  the  latter.  The  late  Dr.  William 
C.  Brownlee  had  recently  been  settled  in  place  of  Dr. 
Finley  at  Baskingridge.  Dr.  Joseph  Campbell  for  ten 
years  had  been  pastor  of  Hackettstown  and  Pleasant 
Grove.  Jacob  Kirkpatrick  had  succeeded  (June,  1810) 
Thomas  Grant  at  Amwell  First  and  Second,  his  pastor- 
ate continuing  for  about  forty  years.  Joseph  L.  Shafer 
had  taken  the  place  of  John  Boyd  at  Newton  (sub- 
sequently to  1809),  and  Horace  Galpin  had  succeeded 
him  at  Lamington.  John  F.  Clark  was  at  Flemington, 
which  had  remained  vacant  several  years  after  the 
close  of  Thomas  Grant's1  pastorate.  David  Bishop  was 
settled  at  Easton,2  in  place  of  David  Barclay,  who  in 
1809  had  charge  of  this  place  together  with  Mt.  Bethel 
and  Oxford.  Jehiel  Talmage  was  pastor  at  Knowlton; 
while  Oxford,  Harmony,  German  Valley,  Fox  Hill, 
Upper  and  Lower  Mt.  Bethel,  Smithfield,  Marks- 
borough,  Hardwick,  and  Amwell  First  were  vacant. 
Shrewsbury,  without  an  organized  church  for  forty  years, 
had  E.  S.  Burrows  as  supply  in  1816-17.  John  Boyd  and 
Symmes  C.  Henry  were  without  charge. 

The  career  of  William  C.  Brownlee  is  mainly  iden- 
tified with  the  history  of  the  Reformed  Dutch  Church, 
which  he  served,  in  the  capacity  of  one  of  the  pastors 
of  the  Collegiate   Church,  New    York,   for  many  years; 

1  Died  March,  1811.  2  In  Pennsylvania. 


NEW    JERSEY,    Is00-ls20.  573 

but  ho  was.  as  pastoral  Baskingridge,  one  of  the  early 
members  of  tbe  Newton  Presbytery.  Joseph  Camp- 
bell, at    Eackettstown,   was  a  native  of  Ireland,  but 

emigrated  to  this  country  in  IT'.'T.  at  the  age  of  twenty- 
one  years.  For  a  short  time  lie  taught  Bchool  at  Cran- 
berry, studying  himself  with  Mr.  Woodhull,  and  sub- 
sequently opened  an  English  and  classical  school  at 
Princeton,  where  he  studied  theology, — probably  under 
President  Smith.  Having  been  licensed  by  Kew 
Brunswick  Presbytery  in  1808,  he  accepted  a  call  in 
the  following  year  to  Hackettstown,  where  he  con- 
tinued to  labor,  with  great  acceptance  and  success,  for 
nearly  thirty  years.  His  congregation,  small  at  first, 
became  under  his  ministry  large  and  flourishing.  With 
great  energy  of  character,  he  wTas  a  faithful  pastor  and 
a  popular  preacher,  devoted  to  the  cause  of  Christian 
philanthropy,  and  prompt,  judicious,  and  efficient  in 
the  ecclesiastical  bodies  of  the  Church. 

John  F.  Clark  was  the  son  of  Dr.  Joseph  Clark, 
pastor  at  New  Brunswick  from  1796  to  1813.  In  1807, 
he  was  graduated  with  high  honors  at  the  College  of 
JSTew  Jersey,  where  subsequently  he  wras  engaged  as 
tutor.  Soon  after  this  he  was  settled  at  Flemington 
and  Am  well,  where  he  remained  for  twenty  years.  He 
was  afterward  settled  at  Paterson,  then  at  Cold  Spring, 
N.Y.j  and  finally  at  Fishkill.  His  death  occurred  in 
1853. 

The  new  churches  reported  in  connection  with  the 
Assembly  within  the  bounds  of  the  State,  during  the 
period  under  review,  were  Hanover,1  Wood  bridge 
Second.  Middletown  Point,  Eackettstown,  Flemington, 
and  Hardwick,  previous  to  l^".-'.:  Koxbury,  or  Black 
River,  Jersey  (City),  Pleasant  Grove,  Easton  Pa.  .and 
Harmony,  previous  to   L809;    Newark  Second,   Pater- 

1  See  note  next  page. 


574  HISTORY    OF    PBESBYTERIANISM. 

son,  Ramapo,  Fox  Hill,  and  Smithfield,  previous  to  1814; 
and  Parsippany,1  Newfoundland,  Stony  Brook,  Long 
Pond,  Scott's  Mountain,  German  Valley,  Lawrenceville 
(Maidenhead),  and  Marksborough,  previous  to  1819. 

There  were  numerous  revivals  during  this  period 
among  the  churches  of  the  State  ;  but  the  influence  of 
the  great  revival  in  Kentucky  was  not  so  perceptible 
here  as  in  some  other  places,  although  it  was  not  with- 
out effect.  At  Bloomneld,  forty-seven  were  added  to 
the  Church  at  one  time,  and  before  1802  the  number 
was  increased  to  about  one  hundred.  In  several  other 
congregations  there  were  powerful  revivals;  but  none 
of  those  "  general  meetings"  which  were  common  in 
Kentucky  and  the  Carolinas  were  held  in  New  Jersey 
until  June,  1803.  By  a  concert  among  the  ministers 
of  two  adjoining  counties,  one  was  held  at  Bottle  Hill 
(Madison),  where  Eobert  Finley  was  settled  as  pastor. 
Twenty-three  ministers  were  present,  and  an  immense 
concourse  of  people  was  in  attendance.  The  meeting 
commenced  on  Tuesday,  and  closed  on  Wednesday 
evening.  The  venerable  Dr.  McWhorter,  of  Newark, 
presided.  The  people  were  formed  into  two  large 
assemblies,  one  in  the  meeting-house  and  the  other  in 
the  fields.  The  exercises  were  characterized  by  a  deep 
and  solemn  interest.  The  appearance  of  the  assem- 
blies was  described  as  that  of  "  an  army  with  banners." 
Among  the  ministers  were  McWhorter,  Finley,  and  the 
gifted  and  eloquent  Kollock,  and  probably  also  Griffin. 
Perrine,  King,  Hillyer,  Armstrong,  and  Eichards, — men 
of  rare  natural  gifts,  "  their  hearts  glowing  with  devo- 

1  Parsippany — as  was  the  case  with  Hanover — was  organized  a 
long  time  previous.  It  was  under  the  care  of  Morris  County  In- 
dependent Presbytery  till  1816,  and  on  the  dissolution  of  that  body 
and  the  settlement  of  Mr.  Ford  its  relations  were  with  the  churches 
of  the  Assembly.  Aaron  Condict  was  pastor  of  Hanover  from  1796 
to  1831. 


1800-1820.  575 

tion,  their  minds  with  eloquence,  and  their  tongues  a-; 
the  pens  of  ready  writers."  "They  appeared  as  tongues 
of  flame."  "Among  the  saints  there  was  a  peculiar 
trembling  of  holy  fear,  and,  at  the  same  time,  childlike 
confidence  with  respect  to  the  issue."  Their  hopes 
were  not  disappointed.  "Many  sinners  were  manifestly 
touched  with  the  arrows  of  conviction."1 

At  the  close  of  the  day,  when  the  congregation  was 
about  to  be  dismissed,  Mr.  Finley  arose  with  a  heart 
swelling  with  emotions  too  strong  to  be  uttered.  After 
he  had  labored  a  short  time  to  express  a  few  broken 
sentences,  his  tongue  was  loosed,  and  he  broke  out  in 
a  strain  of  such  impassioned  eloquence  as  Mr.  Kollock 
declared  he  had  never  heard  before.2  The  whole  con- 
gregation was  powerfully  affected,  and,  after  the  bene- 
diction was  pronounced,  remained  sobbing  and  over- 
whelmed. A  powerful  revival  of  religion  followed  in 
the  congregation.  At  Baskingridge  congregation,  under 
the  care  of  Mr.  Finley,  seventy  persons  were  received 
on  a  single  occasion  to  il.e  (  In tr  -n  ;  and  other  neigh- 
boring congregations  were  largely  blessed. s 

The  most  reniarkal  b  9< •.-...  of  .v\iv.i!.  however, 
during  this  period,  v;:-  m  i  .u.nei  tio:i  «\itl,  the  congre- 
gation of  Eev.  Dr.  Griffin,  at  Newark.     Early  in  1807, 


1  N.Y.  Miss.  Mag.,  iv.;4,3£.  ;    ; , ;  2  f^pp^e,  iv.  2674 
3  An  account  of  the  revival  at  Newark  in  1817  is  to  be  found  in 
the  "Christian  Herald,"  vol.  ii.  pp.  320  and  382. 

In  1817-18,  there  were  revivals  of  considerable  power  in  the  con- 
gregations of  Rockaway,  Perth  Amboy,  Jersey  City,  Newfoundland, 
North  Bardiston,  and  Second  Congregation  of  Woodbridge.  To  the 
latter  one  hundred  and  fifteen  persons  were  added  during  the  year; 
to  thai  of  Rockaway,  "ne  hundred  and  twenty-two;  to  that  of 
Jersey  City,  numbering  previously  but  ten.  twenty-one  were  added. 
Newfoundland  was  organized  August,  1818,  a<  the  l'niit  id'  the  re- 
vival, with  thirteen  members,  to  which  an  addition  of  twenty  more 
was  expected.  More  than  ordinary  interest  prevailed  also  at 
Kingswood,  Bethlehem,  and  Alexandria. — Christum  Herald,  v.  558. 


576  HISTORY    OF   PRESBYTERIANISM. 

there  were  marks  of  unusual  seriousness  The  death 
of  Dr.  McWhorter  in  July  "made  a  great  impression 
on  the  congregation,"  and,  a  few  weeks  later,  Gideon 
Blackburn,  then  on  his  Northern  tour  to  collect  funds 
for  the  Cherokee  Mission,  visited  Newark.  He  preached 
there  several  times  "  with  great  zeal  and  energy."  It 
was  at  this  period  that  the  work  really  commenced. 
All  "appeared  still  around;"  but  secret  anxieties  were 
preying  upon  many. 

In  connection  with  two  neighboring  churches,  a  day 
(September  4)  was  set  apart  for  fasting  and  prayer.  It 
was  marked  by  unusual  stillness  and  solemnity.  At 
the  close  of  the  services  of  the  next — the  sacramental 
— Sabbath,  there  could  be  no  doubt  that  a  revival  had 
indeed  begun.  The  scenes  that  followed  were  truly 
pentecostal.  It  was  sometimes  difficult  to  dismiss  the 
assemblies.  Multitudes  might  be  seen  weeping  and 
trembling  around  their  minister,  while  others  stood 
gazing,  astonished  spectators  of  the  scene.  Even  the 
children  were  deeply  infected.  On  one  occasion,  after 
catechetical  instruction,  "not  less  than  a  hundred  were 
in  tears  at  once."  * 

"The  woik,  hi  point  of  power  and  stillness,"  wrote 
Dr.  Griffin  to  Dr.  Green,  "exceeds  all  I  have  ever  seen." 
The  number  oc  conversions  was  from  two  hundred  to 
two  hundred  and  fifty  The  subjects  were  of  all  ages, 
from  nine  years  old  to  more  than  threescore  and  ten. 
Among  them  were  to  be  found  some  who  had  been 
most  abandoned  characters, — drunkards,  apostates,  in- 
fidels, and  malignant  opposers.  Even  the  "  poor 
negroes"  were  included,  "  some  of  them  hoary  with 
age."  Three  students  of  law  were  among  the  number, 
one  of  whom,  at  least,  will  not  soon  be  forgotten. 

END    OF    VOL.   I. 


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